Where Are We?
by YamiRyback
Summary: Crossover FF7/FF13/FF15. When Noctis and Lightning get stranded in an unfamiliar world, they are drawn into a series of events that could otherwise change the fate of all the worlds. To prevent that, they will have to team up alongside said world's strongest soldier. Rated M for portrayal of violence, moderately explicit sexual references, language and gore. Warning:OOC
1. Chapter 1

**Readers Note: This is the first collaborated fanfiction between me and exia111149 and we do appreciate constructive criticism. Do forgive us if we had made the characters slightly or way OOC in this chapter. Do expect PM's from either of us if we are not able to understand your reviews. And now, back to the story.**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own the Final Fantasy series. If we did, there would have been a crossover between 7 and 13 already for the Playstation**

 **Chapter 1**

Darkness loomed over the crown city of Insomnia where silence was as sharp as a knife. One might think that it has been abandoned for centuries. It was not far off, for the derelict streets and empty houses completely devoid of life gave off such a vibe. A lone man stalked through the empty streets with a few street lamps illuminating the darkness. The man was clad in his black Kingsglaive robes, with hair as black as the night and a stubble adorning his rugged handsome features. It was then daemons descended from the night sky in droves, all directing their killer intent towards the black haired man.

All those who entered within the man's arms-length immediately disintegrated into miasma as the man unleashed a sword of pure light. The daemons, unfazed by their comrades' demise, continued their assault only to meet with the same fate. As the horde of daemons kept coming, replacing their fallen in an instant, they were gone in a flash. The man was too engrossed in taking out the daemons coming from the front that he hadn't noticed there were a few strays coming at him from the back. Just as they were about to lunge at him, they were slashed to bits by a large sword emitting a light aura around the blade. "Noct, watch your back." A tall dark-haired man with a large scar on his exposed chest remarked as he raised his blade over his shoulder, the bits of daemons that lay scattered on the ground evaporating into dust behind him. "These guys can come out of nowhere. We have to be careful." Noctis turned his head to the man's direction. "I know I can always count on you guys, Gladiolus. But if you want to turn back, now is the time."

A blond spectacled man appeared with a decorated spear in each hand, disintegrating daemons that came into close proximity of him. "Noct, we're in this together. Not just as royal guards to the king, but as your friends." The blond man spoke as he raised his right hand to reposition his glasses. "Ignis is right, Noct." Replied a shorter blond man who leapt from the top of a lamp post, his ornate pistols glistening in the dark from the holsters in his jacket. "You think we're just going to walk away after everything we've been through? Not a chance."

Noctis looked at his three childhood friends, silently thanking them with a nod. Just then, a tall reddish purple-haired man wearing a coat and a brim hat stalked out of the shadows. "Aw, now isn't that sweet?" The man casually remarked, his face contorted to sport a Cheshire grin. "Not to worry though. Soon all of you will be joining each other….in death!" As soon as he said that, an army of daemons burst from the shadows of the ground with angry growls directed towards the four men clad in their respective kingsglaive robes. The man quickly disappeared towards the direction of the palace.

"Go on, Noct. We'll handle things from here." Prompto said as he brandished his pistols and shot at a few daemons, with the others beckoning him to go. With a silent nod, Noctis sprinted at full speed towards the palace, fully materializing the Sword of the Wise to slash at any daemon daring to step in his way. He increased the pace using his mana and eventually reached the palace courtyard. He magnified his vision to scan the darkness for any trace of the red-haired man. "Ardyn! Come out and face me, usurper!" Noctis cried out.

The said man entered Noctis's field of vision and landed a good distance in front of Noctis, his back facing Noctis. "The once helpless and hapless prince. Is he now ready to claim his crown?" Ardyn remarked with a coy grin as he turned around to face Noctis. Noctis and Ardyn both materialized Sword of the Wiseand engaged each other in their respective battle stances. With a burst of mana energy engulfing around them, they dashed towards each other at light speed and crossed swords. Their clash created an immensely powerful shockwave of raw power, which sent both of them propelling backwards to opposite buildings. The windows shattered as they thrusted forward, throwing their swords to the ground and teleporting right in front of each other.

Glaring into each other's eyes, they assumed their respective fighting stances once again. "Let the games begin." Ardyn said with an evil smirk. "No." Noctis replied, materializing the Sword of the Wiseonce again. "Now, they end." Noctis then summoned a lightning storm, knocking Ardyn off his guard. Noctis then used this opportunity to teleport close to Ardyn for a warp strike, but Ardyn recovered his stance and deflected the sword strike with the palm of his hand reinforced with magic.

"So, you're the chosen king." Ardyn remarked as he smacked Noctis across the face, knocking him back a few blocks. "But you are second choice, at best." Noctis then recovered and appeared in front of Ardyn with his sword ready to slash at him. However, Ardyn materialized his sword quick enough to block the strike. "Do you like what I have done with this world? I twisted it all just for you." He taunted with a sadistic grin on his face. Right after his snarky comment, Ardyn was knocked back by a sudden rush of energy, a flood of mana that engulfed Noctis' body soon after. Ardyn stumbled backwards, which gave Noctis the advantage to hack and slash at him. Ardyn quickly regained his footing and proceeded to parry all of Noctis' strikes. Noctis increased the intensity of his strikes, but soon realised that his mana was depleting dangerously fast and he was feeling the side effects of using the royal arms for too long.

Noctis tried to create some separation between them so that he could recover some of his strength but Ardyn sensed that Noctis was nearly at his limit and teleported in close range. Ardyn grabbed Noctis by the head and pinned him to the ground "Ah… My revenge is soon at hand. How long have I waited?" Ardyn muses. "Don't worry, it's far from over." Noctis bites back through ragged breaths. Ardyn then lifted Noctis up by his collar and stabbed him through his midsection with his materialized sword. Noctis gasped as he felt the blade enter his midsection. He grunted in pain as he felt Ardyn drag the blade in and out of his midsection before the sword was pulled out entirely.

With blood flowing out of his torso, Noctis drew haggard breaths as he was dropped onto the concrete ground. "What a pity, I had hoped to play with you more." Ardyn commented as he feigned disappointment followed by an exaggerated sigh. "But it seems you are just far too weak. Tell me, how would this world fare if you were its king?" "Far better than if you're its king." Noctis drew hard breaths and retorted, managing to force a cocky grin on his face.

Ardyn narrowed his eyes at Noctis' comment and proceeded to position his sword above Noctis' heart. "A strong retort for someone as weak as you. Say hello to your father when you see him." Just as Ardyn was about to plunge his sword down, he was sent flying into a building by a powerful haymaker delivered by Gladiolus. "Noct!" cried Ignis as he and Prompto ran over to Noctis. "I'm sorry, guys. He did a real number on me." Noctis struggled to say before he was sent into a coughing fit. "Say no more, save your strength." Replied Prompto as he and Ignis carefully lifted Noctis and took him back to the Regalia while Gladiolus went to fight with Ardyn.

As both Ignis and Prompto carefully escorted a severely injured Noctis to the car, a yell in the distance grew louder as Gladiolus crashed into the hood of the car looking completely battered. Ardyn came crashing down on his ribs stomping on them as Gladiolus coughed up blood. Ardyn tucked a lock of stray hair to the back of his ear and wiped off the excess blood on his face. "Now, anyone else care to interrupt?" Ardyn asked in a menacingly calm tone.

Ignis and Prompto carefully set Noctis back on the ground before whipping out their respective weapons. They rushed Ardyn, only to get knocked back into the ground and nearly crushed to death by Ardyn's casted Graviga. Ardyn then turns his attention back to the half-dead Noctis. "Now, where were we?" He remarks as he takes on a more daemonic appearance. He materialized his sword and proceeds to finish the job. As he was about to plunge his blade into Noctis' heart, a bright light enveloped Noctis and blinded Ardyn. The light continued to emanate for a while longer, bathing Noctis with its unnatural holy light before slowly fading away.

Ardyn looked at where Noctis once was only to find that he was gone, what remained was a scorched blackened surface made dimly visible with a lamp post that collapsed during the fight. He let out a blood-curdling roar out of anger as he punched his fists to the ground where Noctis once laid, denying his kill.

All Noctis saw was a bright light before plummeting into a world of darkness. After what appeared as an eternity, Noctis awoke. He opened his eyes to gaze upon an unfamiliar forest. He tried to sit up, only for his sword wound to act up causing him to fall back onto the ground and grunt in pain. "Ugh, Curaga." Noctis muttered using whatever last bits of his mana energy he had left to dull the pain. He could feel the wound starting to close up but it still looked like an open wound. Noctis laid on the ground for a while, his breathing stabilized, feeling bits of his strength slowly returning to him.

When he felt strong enough, Noctis picked himself off the ground and slowly made his way through the forest. He staggered in his steps, cursing himself for sustaining such an injury. "Damn, this hurts. I just hope you guys are alright." Noctis mumbled to himself. As he trudged through the dense vegetation, he slowly began to realise that he was getting lost, well more lost as he was in a foreign land. Just as he was making his way deeper into the heart of the woods, he felt a powerful shockwave and what appeared to be a giant wormhole appeared just to his right. He felt something heavy collided with him, knocking him to the ground. He groaned in pain and tried to sit up, but felt that something was laying on his chest. He opened his eyes, half expecting some sort of log to be resting upon him. What he didn't expect was a young woman panting hard, laying on his chest, completely exhausted from the travel.

Once, the woman caught her breath, she began to sit up, essentially straddling Noctis. Noctis got a good look at the strange woman; she was slightly above average height with a buxom but athletic figure. She had pinkish hair and cerulean eyes and was clad in what appeared to be a military uniform that sported a green metallic pauldron over her left shoulder with yellow stripes. Noctis looked further to see that the woman was wearing a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a lightning bolt. Moreover, he noticed that she was soaking wet. The woman looked down at him and tilted her head to the right. "I'm terribly sorry, civilian. It seems unforeseen circumstances have landed us in this predicament." Noctis then replied, "It's quite alright, miss. But would you be so kind as to get off me? I am losing quite a bit of blood."

Confused, the woman looked down only to realise that the chest she was sitting on was leaking blood, staining the surrounding patch of green grass in crimson. "You're wounded!" She remarked with a gasp. "Yeah, no shit woman." Replied Noctis, rolling his eyes. Ignoring his remark, the woman got off his chest to kneel at his side. She carefully lifted his head and quietly casted a Curaga at his midsection. Within seconds, his wound started to close up eventually forming a long thin scar in his torso. "Thank you." Noctis said as he looked up at her. "It is not a problem, civilian. It is my duty to protect the weak." As soon as she said that, Noctis felt his already wounded pride hurt even more like a kick to the balls.

"The name's Noctis, woman." Noctis spat as he started to get up. Without warning, he was forced back down onto the ground by two slender arms. "You can't move around just yet, lie back onto the grass. And the name's Lightning, dipshit." For a moment, Noctis was shocked by the sheer amount of strength a woman like her possessed. 'Then again she does look like she's from the military.' Noctis thought to himself.

They sat in silence for a moment, not uttering a word to each other. After a few minutes of uncomfortable and awkward silence, Noctis tried to sit back up. The operative word was tried, for Lightning still had her hands pinning his shoulders to the ground. "Uhh, miss Lightning, lady warrior, strange woman who fell from the sky. You can let go now." Lightning said nothing, giving him the death stare. Her features then softened as she let go of his shoulders, allowing Noctis to sit up. 'Hmm, tsundere perhaps.' Noctis thought.

Lightning looked away and muttered something incoherent. "Umm, could you repeat that?" Noctis said only to receive the same mumbling of incomprehensible words from Lightning. "I really didn't catch that. Could you repeat that?" Lightning then turned to face him with a comical red face. "I SAID I WAS SORRY!" She yelled at him and turned away from him again. "I'm sorry, I'm just not good with people." 'Yeap, totally tsundere.' Thought Noctis with a sigh.

"Well, we've chewed the fat enough. What say we get the hell out of here?" Noctis asked as he stood up gingerly. Lightning merely nodded her head and got off the ground. "So where to now?" Noctis asked again. Lightning contemplated their options and pointed to her left "That way."

 _(Some time later)_

"...are you sure this is the way?" Noctis asked as they trekked through the forest. "Call me paranoid, but I think we've past this same bush three times already." Lightning scoffed. "This is a forest, we're bound to come across the same species of shrubs every now and then."

"Somehow, I am not convinced.' Noctis thought to himself. "And you know this how exactly?" Noctis questioned. Lightning stopped in her tracks and looked in his direction, exasperated. "Alright then, dipshit. If you know the way, then take the lead then."

Noctis simply crossed his arms and looked at her in disbelief. "Seriously? I don't even know where we are, so I was under the assumption you knew where we were and could lead us out of here." Lightning just meekly looked away, silently whistling. It was then realisation dawned on Noctis. "Hang on a sec. You mean to tell me we've been wandering around in circles and you have no clue where we are!?" Noctis asked in disbelief. "If that was the case, then why did you take the lead then?"

Lightning turned to look at him. "Well, I have a reputation to keep. I can't just leave civilians behind instead of escorting them to safety." Noctis felt like banging his head into a tree. "What reputation, woman?! We're in the middle of some god-forsaken forest with no one intelligent enough to communicate with and you can't exactly escort civies to safety if you get lost with them as well!" Lightning let out a loud sigh. "Ugh! you are not helping, dipshit! And what do you mean no one intelligent enough? You are stuck with me!"

"It is exactly why I said that, woman." Noctis meekly replied, not even giving a care anymore. "I don't know, alright!? I'm going with my gut feeling and my gut tells me we should continue heading in this direction! So quit your whining, dipshit!" Lightning retorted. Just then, they heard an animalistic roar coming from the front of their direction. "Oh god no…" Noctis stood his ground, materializing the Sword of the Father King. "Don't tell me…." Lightning unsheathed her gunblade, Blaze Edge. A monstrous figure clad in dark purple fur, appeared from the shadows, baring its white canine teeth dripping with hot saliva. "Behemoth." Both Noctis and Lightning said at the same time before entering a fighting stance.

 **Please read and review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Reader's Note: Hey guys, here again with yet another chapter to this fanfiction. We hoped that you had enjoyed the debut chapter. Please keep the reviews coming in so that we can deliver our best to you.**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own the Final Fantasy series. If we did, there would have been crossover character pairings for the Playstation by now.**

 **Chapter 2**

The Behemoth lunged at them, claws fully extended ready to rip them to shreds with its claw strike. Lightning and Noctis avoided the attack by sidestepping, then lunge their blades forward in an attempt to stab the beast. The beast then jumped up and backwards to the safety of a large boulder embedded into the ground. Their blades collided with each other, sending the both of them flying and crashing into the trees. Noctis sat up and leaned against the tree trunk while rubbing his head. He turned to where Lightning landed with irritation written on his face. "Hey, watch it woman!" "Maybe you should watch where you're pointing that thing dipshit!" Lightning retorted without sparing Noctis a glance.

Noctis looked back in front where he noticed that the Behemoth was charging towards him, its animalistic eyes blazing with killer intent. Noctis waited for the Behemoth to get close, then leapt up to slash multiple times at the beast's back while somersaulting in the air. He landed behind the Behemoth, the sword wounds on its back started to bleed, showing the areas where Noctis had sliced the beast in. While the Behemoth was down, Lightning launched herself forward and fired a couple of rounds from her gunblade at the monster. This only served to agitate the Behemoth even more as it turned to the direction where the shots were fired, only to come face to face with Lightning who slashed her blade upwards cleaving one of the Behemoth's horn and taking one of its eyes with it.

Enraged, the Behemoth outstretched its claw and swiped at Lightning's direction. Lightning managed to block the incoming strike, but the impact sent her flying backwards. The beast turned around to face Noctis and prepared to charge again with the intention of impaling Noctis with its remaining horn. Letting out a snarl, the Behemoth charged at Noctis only for its prey to leap into the air again. Noctis then summoned another of his royal arms, the Star of the Rogue and flung it at the Behemoth. The star-shaped shuriken sliced the right side of the Behemoth's limb inflicting a deep gash before travelling in an arc around to slash the left side and finally, in an upward motion, lodging itself into the back of the beast. The canine-like creature let out a roar of pain and was growing more agitated by the second.

Noctis stretched out his left hand and recalled back The Star of the Rogue. The royal arm dislodged itself from the creature's back and landed right in Noctis' hand. Deeply wounded, the Behemoth led out an angry roar. Bloodlust was radiating from the beast as it seemingly bulked itself up. Ignoring the pain from its wounds, the Behemoth stood up on its hind legs. Using its front claws, it pulled the crest from along its head and upper spine, creating a sword. The Behemoth's wounds quickly healed and a suffocating aura emanated from the beast.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Noctis commented while materializing Sword of the Wise and teleport close enough to perform a 360 warp strike. The Behemoth blocked Noctis' strike, knocking Noctis to the ground. It raised its sword ready to slice Noctis into two, but Noctis threw the Sword of the Wise to a nearby tree and teleported there. With a burst of speed, the Behemoth launched forward towards the tree and fell it with one swoop of its sword. Noctis leapt from the tree, materializing the Bow of the Clever and warped in front of the Behemoth, rapidly firing three arrows that embedded themselves into its head. Noctis kicked the Behemoth's face, using the momentum to land onto the ground with a backflip.

Noctis then kneeled down, a hand clutching his chest as he coughed out blood. 'Damn, I used my royal arms too much.' Noctis thought to himself. He looked up from the ground to gaze upon the Behemoth as its remaining feral grey eye focused on Noctis. The Behemoth snarled at Noctis and raised its sword into the air ready to impale Noctis with it. 'Come on, come on. Just one last strike, that's all I need.' Noctis thought to himself, mustering his remaining strength. He materialized the Sword of the Wise and readied for the Behemoth's attack. As the Behemoth brought its sword down, Noctis teleported behind the beast. Letting out a yell, he spun and delivered a 360 strike that cleaved the beast before landing on the ground in a kneeling position with his sword at his side. The Behemoth fell backwards, dropping its sword as its body split in half, causing guts and innards to spill out onto the ground staining the green grass crimson red.

Noctis stood up and flicked the blood off his blade before dematerializing it. He looked back at the creature he slew then looked back to where Lightning was standing after attacking the beast only to realize that she had been missing during the whole fight. "Wow, unhelpful much." Noctis grumbled to himself before feeling exhausted due to the constant use of the royal arms take over him and nearly collapsed on the ground in the process, emphasis on nearly for Lightning caught him just before he fell. "Where...the heck...were you?" Noctis struggled to say between breaths. "You looked like you could handle it yourself. I'm afraid I may have misjudged you too quickly, I have never seen such display of raw power and strength." Lightning replied with admiration in her voice. "Was that...an apology…or a compliment?" Noctis chuckled tiredly as he felt consciousness slip away from him again.

Lightning simply chuckled as she shook her head. "Unbelievable. What an insufferable but interesting man he is." She muttered. She gently laid him on the ground, propping his head on her lap. She gently brushed several stray hairs from his face. 'Hmm, never expected he was a magic user, let alone one that was so strong.' She thought to herself. She sat in silence taking in the tranquil atmosphere around them before shifting her focus back on Noctis. As she took in Noctis' appearance, she realized her heart was beating faster and she was feeling more flushed. 'I never noticed how handsome he looked.' She silently thought to herself as she examined his face.

She felt herself being drawn to his lips. Unlike most of the men she knew, Noctis had slightly fuller lips. 'He would have fit in as a girl with those lips.' She reached down to touch his lips with her fingers, only to stop herself. 'Damn, what am I thinking? Why do I suddenly want to touch his lips?' She mentally berated herself as she shook her head from side to side. A soft groan escaped Noctis as he slightly shifted in her lap. She continued to silently observe Noctis. 'It just looks so soft, warm and inviting. I wonder what they feel like on my own.' She thought to herself as she started to lean down.

'Woah, woah, woah girl! Get a grip of yourself!' Her inner rational self-spoke. 'You are Etro's protector! You're better than this!' 'I beg to differ.' Her inner desires spoke. 'Do it.' In her mind spawned two chibi versions of herself, one was spectacled who represented her rational self while the other was scantily clad who represented her inner desires. 'Come on, do it already.' Spoke her inner desires. 'You'll never get an opportunity like this again.' 'No, Claire! You are better than this.'

Chastised her rational self. 'Just pretend that you are not drawn by his dashing….handsome….face.'

Her chibi inner desires grinned, knowing that her rational counterpart was losing. 'Besides, it is one-time off. Just do it once and then forget about it. It's not like you're going to ravage him or something.' Her inner desires spoke again, although, in the back of her mind, she knew that something like that may happen in the distant future, during which she'll be more than obliged to assist in.

Lightning sighed then looked back at Noctis. 'Well, let's go for broke.' She thought to herself. Soon, the surrounding world became deaf to her as her sole focus was centered on Noctis. 'I just want to feel them.' Lower and lower, she moistened her lips and slightly puckered them out. 'Just one kiss to satiate my curiosity.' "Luna…Come back..." Noctis mumbled. Lightning stopped just inches from his face, taking in this new revelation. 'Luna? Perhaps an ex-lover?' She was torn between playing along and giving up on satisfying her curiosity. She eventually settled on the former and placed her hand to stroke his cheek. "Hush, Noctis. I'm here." She whispered soothingly to him. She positioned her lips over Noctis' own once more and bent lower. 3 inches, 2 inches, 1…

"Am I interrupting?" A voice suddenly spoke. Taken by surprise, Lightning abruptly stood up, knocking Noctis over onto the hard ground while she tried to hide her red face. "Ow! Shit! Damn it, woman!" Noctis cried out as he clutched his head in pain. They looked over to see a young man with spiky blond hair, looking amused. He was tall, lean and well-toned. He wore a high collar sleeveless black shirt, black pants and boots with black cloth covering his left leg and arm. He spotted a pauldron secured in place by two leather straps and a wolf-head badge. He was also leaning against a black motorcycle, a model that neither Noctis or Lightning had seen before.

The man raised out his right arm, his right palm facing the two like a universal halt sign. "I have no wish to fight you. I was merely investigating a great disturbance in the energy waves around here when I saw you two in distress." The man spoke before looking over to spy the dead Behemoth laying on the ground. "But it seems you have already taken care of the problem. Nice work, you two." Noctis raised his hand. "Actually, I took out the beast." He deadpanned before motioning over to Lightning. "She didn't do shit."

Lightning didn't even acknowledge what Noctis said for she felt extremely embarrassed and was trying to avoid Noctis' gaze, much to his confusion. 'Strange, she always had a comeback. Wonder what she's thinking about.' Noctis wondered to himself. Noctis turned his attention back to the man. "Thank you for coming out all this way. You see, we are very lost and I was hoping you could help get us out of this forest." Noctis said to the man.

The man simply nodded and motioned for the two of them to come over. "Get on." He said pointing to his motorcycle. Noctis looked over to the man's motorcycle. "Call me impressed by your ride, but with all things considered, how is that going to fit both of us?" Noctis enquired. It was then the man pushed a button on the bike, causing the sides to open up to reveal two sidecars. "...I call the left one." Noctis said after recovering from his stupor. He hopped into the left sidecar while Lightning hopped into the other one.

The man revved up the engine, causing it to roar to life. He then flipped a switch at the side, to which an AI spoke: "Stealth mode deactivated." The man adjusted his gloves and slipped on a pair of goggles that he wore around his neck before taking off at high speed down a straight path of the forest. After a while, they reached the clearing where they spotted the main road. The man swerved his bike onto the road and rode down the long stretch. Noctis turned to look at his surroundings and noticed that everything looked unfamiliar to him. 'This sure isn't Insomnia anymore.' Noctis thought to himself.

He turned to look at the man riding the bike. "Thanks for the ride. I'm Noctis, by the way." Noctis said. "You are welcome. The name's Cloud, Cloud Strife." The man replied monotonously. They continued on in silence for a while, until Noctis once again turned to Cloud. "Where are we?" Noctis asked Cloud. "You are in Midgar." Replied Cloud as he took a turn at an intersection. "Midgar?" Noctis enquired. "Never heard of it before." "Unlikely you've heard of it." Cloud answered. "I think you two were transported here from your worlds. Such an energy signal can only mean a dimensional portal is active."

It took a moment for Cloud's words to register in Noctis' brain. "An active dimensional portal? You mean there were similar occurrences?" Noctis questioned. Cloud merely nodded. "There were similar energy waves over the past two months. At first they started small, just energy spikes every now and then. It grew larger as the weeks went by, eventually portals started showing up dropping all manner of creatures into our world." Cloud stated. "Most of them were harmless, while others like that Behemoth you guys took out were malevolent and posed serious threats."

"Now that I think about it, the Behemoth did seem kind of familiar." Lightning interjected, snapping out of her stupor. "It kind of looks as though it came from Gran Pulse." Noctis looked in her direction. "What kind of a place is Gran Pulse?" "It is a place much parallel to the world where I come from, which is called Cocoon. It was initially thought to be a living hell, but it was actually a place where plants and animals thrive." Lightning replied. "Wait, you mean you two didn't come together?" Cloud questioned. "Nope. She landed on me through another portal and opened up my wound." Noctis deadpanned. "More like your wounded pride." Lightning snorted. "Hey! You weren't there when it happened." Noctis angrily replied. "Indeed I wasn't. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out you were thoroughly and utterly thrashed." Lightning snarkily replied.

Cloud simply chuckled. "I was under the impression you two know each other, considering how she was all 'familiar' with you back in the forest." Cloud's statement made Lightning blush beet red while Noctis looked at her funny. "Woman. What exactly were you doing to me back there?" Noctis narrowed his eyes. "It….it's….it's nothing! Don't worry about it, dipshit!" Lightning hastily replied without looking at Noctis while her voice pitching higher octaves.

Noctis sighed and shook his head before turning his attention back to Cloud. "Anyways, you mean to tell me there are more creatures from other worlds prowling about?" Noctis asked, shrugging off the subject. "We've been tracking them down ever since they popped up on our radar. You taking out that Behemoth was just one less threat to worry about." Cloud answered as they proceeded downhill and turned into a carpark. "We? Whose we?" Noctis asked. "You will see. Soon enough." Cloud replied after a pause, switching off the engine after parking in an empty lot.

Getting off the motorcycle, Cloud led Noctis and Lightning to an elevator. Once the elevator doors opened, Cloud went inside with the others. He then pushed a button for the top floor. The elevator doors closed and ascended. There was a deafening silence throughout the elevator ride for each were stuck in their own thoughts. 'We need all the help we can get in order to put a stop to whatever's going on, perhaps these two can provide us with the aid we need. They do seem like capable fighters, but how do I convince them to join us?' Thought Cloud, his face scrunched up in deep thought while subconsciously tracing his right index finger up and down his chin.

'So how am I going to get back to Insomnia? My friends are in trouble.' Noctis thought to himself, the memories of his defeat against Ardyn continuously played out in his mind. He gently gripped the part of his midsection where he'd been stabbed. 'Gladio, Ignis, Prompto. Stay strong and please be safe.' Noctis looked down at his palm. 'Ardyn, I'll make sure to raise hell on you the next time we meet.' Noctis promised as he clenched his fist with determination.

With Lightning, her thoughts were on a more personal level. 'I should be worrying about how to get home, but my thoughts always seem to shift to….' Lightning thought to herself as she looked towards Noctis' direction. She felt her face began to flush red when Noctis' face came into her field of vision and looked down quickly. 'What is this? Why am I feeling this way? There were a couple of guys back home in Cocoon, but none of them made me react the way I did with him.' She looked back at Noctis and attempted to still the rapid beating of her heart. 'It couldn't be. Am I...falling in love with him?' Her turmoil didn't go unnoticed by Cloud, who was drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of a heart beating abnormally faster than an average human. He looked over to Lightning with the corner of his eye and traced her line of sight to Noctis. He silently chuckled to himself. 'Poor guy's oblivious to the heart of a woman.'

The elevator ringed once it reached its designated floor, which shook Lightning out of her thoughts. "We're here." Cloud simply said and walked out. That was the silent cue for both Noctis and Lightning to exit. Noctis then turned to Lightning, who had been acting weird. "Okay woman, spill it. What exactly were you doing to me back in the forest?" Noctis questioned. He then noticed that her face was beet red. "Hey woman, you alright? You're looking kind of red. Did you catch a fever or something?" Noctis asked cocking his head to the side. He moved closer to her, only for her to turn away. "Nothing's the matter, I'm fine, dipshit." Lightning hesitantly replied. "Are you sure? I'm only concerned for you." Noctis said. His statement made Lightning turn a brighter shade of red.

She felt something warm touch her forehead. She turned to look only for her eyes to meet with Noctis. She also realized that his hand was in contact with her forehead. "You're burning up a little and you're beet red like a tomato. You sure you didn't catch anything?" Noctis stated, slightly on alert ready to catch Lightning if she collapsed. This only cause Lightning to explode, visible lines of smoke could be seen coming out of her ears and slight bleeding from the nose. Noctis was now very alarmed as Lightning was in a really bad state that he thought she would pass out at any second. "Hey Cloud! The woman here's acting weird like a potato with bad circulation!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow at the duo and sighed. 'Yup, he really has no idea what's happening.' Cloud thought to himself as he continued to merely stare at Noctis' antics, amused. Lightning was ramrod stiff, finding interest in staring at the wooden floor as Noctis was frantically trying to get Cloud to do something. Cloud was still staring blankly back at Noctis waiting for something to happen.

At this point, Lightning just wished that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. She had two choices, either book it or let Noctis continue his ministrations on her. She obviously chose the former and bolted out of the bar. "Hey, wait! Damn it, woman!" Noctis shouted at her, ready to chase after her only to be stopped by an outstretched hand. "Let her go, she needs time to cool off and figure things out." Cloud said exasperatedly. "Wait, so she's figuring out if she's sick or not?" Noctis asked quizzically still confused by what just happened. Cloud just sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, come this way." Cloud replied, beckoning for Noctis to the bar counter.

"Anything to drink?" He asks as Noctis took a seat on one of the stools at the counter. "What d'ya have?" Noctis asks. "Look at the board." Noctis saw a blackboard with all the different combinations of alcohols. "Yeah, I think I'll just have water." Cloud just raised an eyebrow at his choice of drink, Noctis replied with a shrug. "One glass of water coming right up." Cloud said before placing several ice cubes in an empty glass. He took a pitcher of chilled water from the fridge and filled the glass up. He then took a lemon slice and placed it in the glass before serving it to Noctis. Noctis thanked Cloud before taking a sip.

Noctis then took a moment to study the bar. The elevator was on the left of the round counter while the lavatories were on the extreme right. There were stools surrounding the counter as well as numerous wooden tables with red and white checkered tablecloths and chairs arranged in an orderly fashion. The main entrance was right in front of the bar counter, which led to the main street filled with shops. There was also a staircase at the back of the counter, which led up to an obscenely long corridor lined with guest bedrooms.

"Nice place ya got here." Noctis commented with a whistle. "Thanks, but it's not mine. It belongs to my childhood friend." Cloud replied while wiping a glass with a piece of cloth.

"Just a friend?" Noctis raised an eyebrow. Cloud stared blankly back at Noctis and monotonously replied "Yes."

"Hmm. I see. My wife to be was my childhood friend but the marriage didn't exactly happen." Noctis' mood turned sombre for a moment before looking back up at Cloud. "She passed some time ago. I've...never felt so helpless before."

"I understand your pain. I've lost people who were very dear to me as well." Cloud replied, a hint of sorrow in his voice. "So….. how'd you end up here?" Cloud asks, changing the subject. Noctis smiled before taking another sip. "Take a seat, it's going to be a long while." Noctis said before setting his glass on the counter.

 **And that's it for the second chapter. Apologies for the late upload, we were preoccupied for a moment and hadn't had the time to work on it. Be sure to read and review. To confirm, there will be shippings like Noctis x Lightning that's featured in this chapter. Be sure to give us your feedback through PMs to let us know what you think of our story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Reader's Note: Hey people! We are yet back again with another chapter of our Fanfic. We hope that you had enjoyed our previous chapter. Do review our story and see where we can improve. We really need your feedback to provide you with well-written chapters. For now, enjoy the next part of our crossover.**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Final Fantasy franchise. If we did, there would have been a Cloud x Lightning pairing for the Playstation.**

 **Chapter 3**

Lightning just kept running, not knowing or caring where she was going. What she did know, however, was that she had to get as far away from Noctis as possible. Her mind relieved that embarrassing moment like a broken record as she zipped down the alleyways. 'Damn it, I was a presentable person back on Cocoon. How did I end up like this?' Lightning thought to herself as she stopped and leaned next to a wall to catch her breath. She didn't mind the metallic smell of the air for her mind was struggling to put together the pieces that caused her dilemma. "What's happening to me?" She asked no one in particular. Her heart was beating fast, her face extremely flushed as she caught her breath. Was it all the running? Of course not, running could never have reduced her into such a state. As a matter of fact, running was her forte for Etros' sake!

'Damn him, damn that dipshit! What is wrong with me!? Why does the mere thought of that imbecile get me so riled up?' She thought to herself as she stood there reeling in all the new feelings she was currently experiencing. 'Is….is this….what love feels like?' Lightning contemplated, a hand clasped over her erratic beating heart. Now, she was never much of a romance person, so falling in love was an entirely new thing for her. She was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed a group of unsavoury individuals make their way towards her.

"Lookie here, boys! What's a nice piece of ass like you doing out here alone?" A tall burly man spoke as his face contorted to sport a rather lewd grin. "Hey boss, let's have some fun with her!" Said another man, a tad bit shorter than the burly man with a wild mohawk. "Don't get too wild lads, I want my share too!" Cried another man, the tallest among the three with multiple facial piercings and heavily tattooed from the neck down.

Lightning turned her head towards the approaching men, then sighed. "I do not have time for this. Turn back now before you regret it." Lightning responded while narrowing her eyes. Hearing this, the men laughed. "Hahaha, before we regret it?" The burly man, assumed to be their leader, stepped forward and spoke. "Come now, sweet thing. We could use some company."

The man then reached out his hand to touch her shoulder. Before it landed at its destination, Lightning shifts her arm to smack the man's hand away before delivering a palm strike to his neck. The burly man choked and clutched at his damaged larynx, struggling to breathe. Lightning then performed a spinning heel kick to the side of his chin, essentially dislocating his jaw and knocking him unconscious. "I warned you, didn't I?" Lightning simply commented, bringing her leg down onto the ground.

Stunned, the two remaining men looked to their fallen leader, then back at the woman. "You bitch! How dare you!?" Cried out the mohawk man before brandishing a butterfly knife from his vest pocket. "We just wanted to have a little fun, no harm done. Seeing as what ya did, you're in for a lot of hurt. " Replied the man with piercings before taking out a tactical baton, sparkling with electricity. Lightning leaned forward with one hand brushing against the handle of her Blaze Edge, ready to defend against the two thugs. Just as they were about to lash out at her, they felt themselves landing face first onto the ground from two consecutive chops to the nape of their necks.

Lightning looked up to see a black haired woman in a black leather form-fitting attire befitting that of a martial artist. The black haired woman then lifted her booted heel and crashed it down on the mohawk man's back, earning a painful grunt from said man.

"You two had best beat it before you end up like your friend laying there as well." The black haired woman spoke in a menacing tone. "Argh, these bitches are crazy. Come on, let's go!" The man with piercings spoke after picking himself from the ground and took off in the opposite direction, running past Lightning who appeared to not give a damn about them. The mohawk man did the same after the black-haired woman took her boot off his back, taking off after his friend. "This isn't over, ya cunts! We'll get ya for this!" The mohawk man yelled after bolting out the alleyway.

"Thanks for the assist, although I could have handled it myself." Lightning replied while looking in the direction of the black haired woman. The woman simply shrugged it off. "I could see that. Still, couldn't resist giving you a hand." The woman then walked over to Lightning. "Say, are you lost?" She asked Lightning. "Yes, you could say that." Lightning replied while placing a hand behind her head to scratch it. "What are you doing out here all alone?" The black-haired woman enquired. "I was just….out to clear my head." Lightning said. The woman just giggled. "Let me guess, boy problems?" The woman's response was what Lightning hadn't anticipated. It made her blush beet red and look down onto the ground, the thoughts of the earlier event once again fresh in her mind.

"I'm just messing with you." The black haired woman patted Lightning on the shoulder reassuringly while trying to suppress a smirk. "Come on, let me show you to my bar. You could use a drink." She said while motioning for Lightning to follow. Lightning nodded and replied "Thanks. The name's Lightning, by the way." The black haired woman looked at Lightning. "Nice to meet you, Lightning. The name's Tifa, Tifa Lockhart."

It was then Lightning spotted a child hiding behind Tifa's leg. "Who's the little one?" Lightning questioned. Tifa looked behind her and smiled. "Oh, this is Marlene." Tifa then turns around and kneels to Marlene's height. "There's no need to be shy, honey. Come out and say hi." Marlene looks over Tifa's shoulder to look at the pink-haired woman. "He….hello." Marlene shyly greeted before hiding behind Tifa once more. "Don't fret about it, she'll warm up to you eventually" Tifa commented. Taking Marlene's hand, Tifa lead them both into the well-lit main street. As the trio made their way to the bar, Tifa popped the question. "So Lightning, where are you from?"

"Cocoon." Lightning replied without giving much emotion. "It's from another world." "Hmmm, I see." Tifa processed. "You are one of a kind. Usually, we've been getting creatures coming in from the portals. But another human is one in a million." Lightning was then greeted by a familiar sight upon reaching their destination. "Hang on, that's the bar I came from." Lightning said. "Oh, so you've been here already?" Tifa questioned. Lightning merely nodded. "Then I guess you must have already met Cloud. You'll get used to him, he may be all tough on the outside but he's actually a big softie." Tifa commented with a slight blush on her face, which thankfully Lightning didn't notice.

Cloud took notice of the two women who entered 7th Heaven bar. "Ah, welcome back Tifa." Cloud said with a slight smile on his face earning a soft blush from said woman, which didn't went unnoticed by Lightning this time. "I see you brought our guest back as well." Cloud noted before looking over to Lightning. "So, have you cooled down?" Lightning meekly nodded. "Good, in that case, why don't I show you to your room?" Tifa asked, receiving another nod from Lightning. 'Hmmm, this is interesting.' Lightning thought to herself. 'From the looks of it, I think Tifa is in love with Cloud. I wonder if I could ask her for some advice on how to deal with the emotions I feeling now everytime I think about...' She then thought back to Noctis for a moment. 'Argh, I can't keep thinking about him. This has to stop.'

"By the way, where is the dipshit?" Lightning questioned. "Lightning! Not around the kid!" Tifa chastised while covering Marlene's ears. Cloud, knowing who she was referring to, simply replied: "The prince is asleep in his bedroom." Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Prince?" She asked inquisitively. "Ah right, you don't know. I'll leave it to him to explain it to you." Cloud replied. "Come on, let's get you to your room." Tifa said before motioning for Lightning to follow her up the staircase. Lightning followed her with Marlene in tow. As they made their way through the corridor, they heard a slight snore coming from one of the bedrooms. "Ah, so that's where our second guest is." Tifa commented, taking note of the slight blush on Lightning's face. 'Hmmm, I'll have to ask Cloud about this.' Tifa thought to herself.

Tifa then walked to the adjacent bedroom and unlocked the door. "So, this will be where you will be staying. It's not much, but I hope it's enough for you." Lightning took in the appearance of the room. There was a queen-sized bed situated next to the window. A nightstand with a lamp on it was placed next to the bed. It also had a small desk in a corner of the room. The wallpaper was coloured white similar to the curtains. Overall, it was somewhat plain and simple. "It'll do, thanks." Lightning replied with a smile. "Alright then, see ya in the morning. Oh, there are some spare clothes and sleepwear in the closet by the way." Tifa said with a singsong voice while cradling a sleeping Marlene in her arms.

Tifa closed the door behind her and went back downstairs where Cloud was. After settling Marlene down on a mattress she laid behind the counter, she sat down at the bar counter while Cloud poured her a glass of milk before sitting down beside her. Tifa blushed slightly before she gave him a look at her choice of drink to which Cloud just brushed off. "You know I can hold my alcohol." Tifa commented. "I know but, there's another time for that." Cloud responded knowing what Tifa wanted to hear. "So, what's the beef between our two guests?" Tifa asked Cloud as she took a sip of milk.

"Let's just say I kind of found them in a very compromising situation. You see, I arrive in the forest to find Lightning being all touchy-feely with an unconscious Noctis. Of course, I haven't told Noctis that Lightning was basically molesting him. And then, there was that situation between them…" Cloud wanted to leave it at that but Tifa was fully staring into his soul right now. Cloud sweatdropped and sighed before continuing. "Ok, Noctis was very concerned about Lightning blushing too much that he thought that she had a fever or something. So Lightning couldn't take all the attention and just ran out the door.." Tifa just nodded her head processing all the information in silence for a moment. Tifa contemplated Cloud's words for a moment. "Hmm, I get the sense that Lightning is rather foreign when it comes to the affairs of the heart." "Hmph, you can say that again." Cloud snorted to which Tifa playfully slapped him on the shoulder lightly. "Noctis is not exactly the brightest bulb either when it comes to understanding a woman's feelings."

"So, we have two hopelessly oblivious idiots with little to zero idea of love." Tifa commented. "On the contrary, Noctis told me that he had a wife so… I won't say that he's completely hopeless. And I don't think that he feels the same way about Lightning." Cloud responded.

"Had, Cloud? You mean…." Tifa asked. Cloud merely nodded, knowing what she was insinuating. "In that case, he could use someone new in his life and I think that Lightning could be that person." Tifa then had a strange glint in her eyes as she turned to look at Cloud. 'Oh no, Tifa always had that look when it comes to one of her crazy ideas.' Cloud thought to himself.

"It's settled, then. We've got to get those two together." Tifa abruptly stood up and pumped her fist in the air. Cloud just looked at her blankly. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" With fire in her eyes, she looked back at Cloud "You're damn right it is." Cloud sweatdropped again and reluctantly agreed to help out, knowing that a worse fate awaited him should he refuse. "Fine…. What am I supposed to do?" Tifa winked at him "You'll see soon."

 _(Meanwhile with Lightning….)_

Lightning tossed and turned in her bed. She struggled to get some shuteye but sleep eluded her due to thoughts of a certain black-haired dipshit. 'Come on, Claire. Shut your eyes, empty your mind and go to sleep.' She thought to herself. But no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't get him out of her mind. "Argh! Why is this so hard?!"

She gave up on sleeping and decided to go downstairs for a drink. As she walked past Noctis' room, she stopped abruptly thinking if she should go check up on him. Shaking her head, she decided against it and proceeded down the stairs to get a drink. Halfway through her trudge down the flight of stairs, she overheard Tifa talking to Cloud about something. Curious, she went lower and assumed a crouching position where she could remain undetected while being able to hear what they were saying.

"Putting that aside, I think we need to get to the main issue at hand." Tifa's mood suddenly grew grim and serious after making that statement. "Yeah, we should." Cloud meekly replied. "If all these irregularities that keep popping up in the energy fields are what I fear, then we are all in grave danger. Not just Midgar, but the whole world and possibly even other worlds." Tifa looked at him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Cloud, we've talked about this. He's dead. There's got to be another reason." Tifa commented. 'He?' Lightning pondered as she crept further down to catch more of their conversation. "But we can't shake the possibility that the Lifestream could very well be a catalyst for this. Till now, we are still unsure of what the Lifestream is capable of." Cloud added. "If this is due to the Lifestream, then it's for damn sure that it's Sephiroth's doing."

Cloud then turned away from Tifa to look at his now empty glass. "What if he's not dead, Tifa? What if he's just in hiding, waiting for an opportunity to strike back?" Cloud said in a worried tone. "I…. I just….I just don't want the same thing that happened with Aerith to happen to you or any of the others." Cloud was now stammering, his fists clenching on the bar counter. Tifa pulled Cloud into a hug. "Cloud, we'll get through this." Tifa said soothingly while brushing the top of his hair. "Even if Sephiroth does come back to wreak havoc, we'll be there to stop him. Besides, we could also seek the help from our guests, whom from what I can gather seem like capable fighters." Cloud rested his head on her chest, causing Tifa to blush. "Will they be willing to help though? They are after all not from our world, so I reckon they would rather look for ways to get back to their worlds instead." Cloud asked. "I guess we'll just have to ask them tomorrow." Tifa replied. "Look at it another way, if we can instill their help in solving whatever the hell's going on, maybe there's a chance that they could be sent back to their worlds."

"Hmmm, I never thought about it that way." Cloud said before looking up at Tifa. "Thanks, Tifa." He then gave her a slight smile that made Tifa's heart melt. "It's no problem, Cloud." She said with a slightly forced laugh while soothingly rubbing his back. In her mind, she was hyperventilating. 'Woah woah, calm down girl. It was just his way of complimenting you.' Tifa silently reassured herself while trying to force down any improper thoughts that came to her mind. "Well, it's getting late." Cloud lifted himself from Tifa's chest, much to the latter's concealed disappointment. "We should get some sleep." Cloud stretched a bit before extending a hand to help Tifa off the chair. They then both laid down on a mattress in a corner with Marlene in the centre and slept.

'That was all….rather shocking, to say the least.' Lightning thought to herself before silently heading down to the bar counter and getting herself a glass of water. She took a quick glance at the sleeping couple while quietly setting the pitcher down. 'Hmmm, if I help them I do stand a chance of returning back to Cocoon, even if that chance seems rather slim.' She settled the now empty glass and made her way back upstairs down the dimly lit corridor, passing by Noctis' bedroom. She paused for a moment to look at his door. 'But do I really want to get home?' She pondered while holding a hand up to her chest. 'Wait, what am I saying?' She thought while shaking her head. She sighed and took one last look at the door to Noctis' bedroom before returning to her own to retire for the night.

 _(The next morning….)_

Lightning was stirred awake by the golden rays of the morning sun that shone into her window, reflecting off her face. She raised a hand to block the bits of sunlight before sitting up. She yawned while stretching her body, feeling the satisfying creaks in her shoulders and back. Getting up from the bed, she walked over to the closet to retrieve a towel and a spare change of clothes. Looking into the closet, she found that most of the clothes were pink in colour. 'Ugh, pink, pink and pink. Whose closet is this?' Lightning thought to herself. She then noticed several black clothes folded neatly in one of the closet drawers. 'Hmm, they'll have to do.' Lightning thought to herself before placing them over her arm and sauntered towards the bathroom. The moment she opened the door, she was greeted by a sight most girls would kill to look at….Noctis in his underwear.

Noctis heard the door open and turned to look at the intruder annoyed. He was still in the midst of slipping on a pair of black leather pants. The angle that he was now in gave Lightning a full view of his perfectly sculpted body. The water droplets from the bath decorated and glistening on his skin, with a few droplets slipping further down to his abs. Lightning's eyes widened into practically saucers while her face flushed extremely red. As much as she wanted to leave and shut the door behind her, she couldn't help but continue to stare at his body. "Hey, woman." Noctis said tilting his head to the side, clearly unfazed by the fact that a person of the opposite sex was currently staring at his half-naked body. "If you don't mind, would you kindly go out and wait your turn?" It was at that moment where Lightning's reaction was that akin to that of an innocent teenager with no knowledge of the opposite sex, and that was to let out a high-pitched scream that echoed through the bar.

"Well, now we know that they are awake." Tifa commented to herself while flipping the omelette in the frying pan. Startled by the scream, Cloud rushed up to the bathroom, sword in hand ready to strike while under the assumption that they were under attack. He was greeted by the sight of the bathroom door left right open with Lightning standing in the doorway gazing upon the half-naked Noctis. Sighing, he shook his head before heading back down the stairs with his sword resting on top of his shoulder. "Damn it, woman! Will you stop screaming?! My ears are about to explode any moment now!" Noctis shouted while covering his ears. Unfortunately for him, Lightning's scream only got louder for the hands that once held his pants were resting over the wrong area, causing it to drop onto the cold marble floor of the bathroom and essentially revealing his concealed manhood.

"For Ifrit's sake, please can it with your screaming!" Noctis bellowed, practically screaming at the top of his lungs at her. Eventually, she settled down to a stammer of incomprehensible words. "Wh….wh….what….what the hell are you doing in here, dipshit!?" Lightning asked, finally getting the words out of her mouth. "What's it look like, Sherlock?" Noctis retorted back, clearly annoyed. "I just finished my bath. You know, it's very rude to barge into the bathroom when someone is using it." Wanting the nightmare to end, Lightning did what any reasonable person, in her book, would do. She socked Noctis in the face, knocking him out cold. 'Why me? I didn't do anything to deserve this.' Noctis thought to himself as he fell to the ground, blacking out.

 _(Later that morning…)_

Four people were now seen seated at one of the bar tables eating their breakfast in complete silence. Cloud and Tifa were eating their breakfasts comfortably while the same, however, couldn't be said for the other two. Lightning was looking down at her plate, using her fork to poke at the sausages and vegetables that laid there with a look of embarrassment on her face. Noctis, on the other hand, sported a large angry bruise on his right cheek. He winced a little whenever the food he chewed went to his right jaw and had an unimpressed look on his face while he occasionally narrowed his eyes at Lightning's direction.

Tifa noticed this and nudged Cloud gently on his shoulder. Cloud looked at Tifa confused but soon got the message when she nodded in Noctis' direction. He could see Noctis with a purple mark on his face while glaring at Lightning. Cloud raised an eyebrow at this 'Oh he's pissed. I'll ask him later about that mark.' The silence was so tense that you could slice it with a butter knife due to Noctis' radiating anger.

"So," Cloud broke the silence after clearing his throat. "Now that we're all here, I think we should discuss about something." Both Lightning and Noctis turned to him to listen to what Cloud had to say.

 **And that's all for this chapter, folks. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Please review it so that we can improve further on this. Also, we're now hinting at two pairings, namely Lightning x Noctis pairing and Cloud x Tifa that will (I hope) be shown more soon and by soon I mean a few chapters later.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Reader' Note: Hey guys, back from the dead (which was last week) here to deliver you another chapter to this story. Please read and review this chapter so that we can improve further! :)**

 **Disclaimer: We do not own the Final Fantasy franchise. All rights goes to Square Enix. However, if we did own this series, we would have remastered FFI to FFXII for the Playstation**

 **Chapter 4**

"As you already know, you guys were pulled into our world by the same portals that have been appearing over the past few months." Cloud began. "Whether it was an accident or not that you ended up here, we do not know. What we do know is that there may be a higher power at work here." "You must be referring to that Sephiroth guy, right?" Lightning inquired, which made both Tifa and Cloud look up at her. "Were you listening in on our conversation last night?" Tifa asked. Lightning merely replied with a shrug. "Hmph, leave it to the person who doesn't respect another's privacy." Noctis grumbled, still ticked off about the incident in the bathroom. A visible tick mark could be seen on Lightning's forehead as she elbowed Noctis hard, in the ribs, earning a giggle from Tifa. Noctis just winced and sulked even more.

"As I was saying," Cloud stated, getting everyone's attention. "Yes, it could be the work of Sephiroth." "Who's Sephiroth?" Lightning asked. Her question made the tension filled the room so thick you could almost feel it. Cloud then turned sombre and looked down at the table. "He's….not a subject we usually touch on." Tifa replied. "All you need to know is that he's a really evil man who would stop at nothing to destroy the world." She looked at Cloud momentarily and then turned back to face Noctis and Lightning.

"Right now, the issue is with all the monsters that have been appearing in droves lately. Until we can find out what's really causing these monsters to run amok, our main priority is to eliminate them before they become serious threats to Midgar's society." "And you would like our help in this extermination, correct?" Lightning questioned. "That's right." Tifa replied with a nod. "Also, we've recently discovered that the monsters spawn at specific locations around Midgar, three to be exact. If we can triangulate these energy signatures, it may lead us to the source of these disturbances we have." Tifa explained. "Plus, it may also provide us with a solution to send you guys home."

There was complete silence for a while as both Noctis and Lightning were in deep thought. 'As of late, I'm willing to try anything to get back to Insomnia.' Noctis thought to himself. 'In addition, these people have helped us. I guess I could return the favour.' 'Although it's a slim chance, it's still worth a shot.' Lightning thought to herself. 'Besides, I can't sit around watching innocents die by these mongrels.' "We're in." Lightning said. Noctis turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "We?" He asked.

"What, you weren't planning on helping them, dipshit?" Lightning retorted. "Woah, get off your high horse there, bath-invader. I never said I wouldn't help. I just didn't need you to answer on my behalf." Noctis answered back. "Well, it appears that a certain someone needs to keep their pride in check. Speaking of which, how's your's healing up?" Lightning sneered.

"Oh, it healed up real nice and good, especially after the last battle where you clearly were of no help at all." Noctis casually replied while mockingly stretching his back. "Well, I took down bigger, meaner and tougher enemies than that Behemoth back in the forest." Lightning replied with a smug look on her face. "I hate to deflate your growing ego, woman but so have I." Noctis deadpanned. "Oh yeah? Then tell me how were you so down and out when we first met?" Lightning questioned. "I guess bigger and tougher got the better of you that time." Noctis then took on a grim look, stood from his seat and left upstairs to his bedroom. "Hah, you see? You can't handle the truth, dipshit!" She yelled after him.

"Lightning, that was uncalled for." Cloud chastised. Lightning just looked at him. "What, did I say something wrong?" She asked. "Well after that, what do you think?" Cloud asked, folding his arms across his chest. Now, Lightning started to feel bad. 'Wait, why am I feeling bad? He deserved it.' Lightning thought to herself. 'Then again, I might have triggered a bad memory or something.' Now, it was her turn to take on a solemn look. 'Did I….really take it too far back there?' She stood up from her chair, then made her way upstairs without saying a word.

Right outside his door, she prepared to knock but stopped as her knuckles stopped one inch away from the wooden door. 'Wait, what do I say to him?' Lightning thought to herself. 'Damn, I should have planned this out.' It was then she came across two familiar faces, or face if you prefer. As a matter of fact, her chibi rational self and inner desires have come to life right in front of her eyes once again. 'You don't have to plan for everything, Claire. Just follow your heart and everything will fall in place.' Her rational self spoke up. 'For once, I have to agree with her. It's not healthy for you to keep planning things, just let nature take its course.' Her inner desires responded with a nod.

'Hmmm, you girls are right.' Lightning thought to herself. 'If all goes well, perhaps you'll find yourself naked lying under the sheets next to him.' Her inner desires spoke with a cheeky grin, causing Lightning to blush. 'No, no it most definitely will not! I'm just going to say sorry to him, nothing more.' Lightning berated her inner desires. 'And you were worried that you didn't know the right words for your apology Claire?' Her rational self spoke.

Little did she know that this little mental outburst with her chibi selfs caused her to act out slightly in the real world, in the form of kicking the door a few times. When she came back to reality, she was face-to-face with an opened door and an irritated looking Noctis staring right back at her. This caused her to flinch back a little, startled. "How did you know I was in front of your door?" Lightning asked.

"Really? That's your response right after you've been kicking at my door for a few seconds? You've done a great job, captain." Noctis uncaringly replied. "In any case, I'm not in the mood for entertaining any more of your shit." He started to close the door but was stopped by an outstretched arm. "Would you….just at least hear me out? Please?" Lightning pleaded. Noctis looked at her for a few seconds before opening the door and ushering her in. "Make it quick." Noctis said. "I just came by to see how you were doing." Lightning said, immediately regretting her choice of words when Noctis turned to look at her with a 'wow, really?' look. "What I meant to say was that I may have gone overboard back there, I may have said some things I shouldn't and I really, really, really didn't mean to hurt you." She looked back at Noctis to see he now had her full attention, his expression with the look of slight bewilderment on it. "Urgh, what I meant to say is that I'm….sorry." Lightning finished, looking down at the ground while shuffling her feet. The room was silent for a while before Noctis spoke up. "That's….the first time I've heard you made the longest statement." "Well, I hadn't actually thought about what I wanted to say." Lightning replied.

'Really? She needed time to think of an apology, instead of using the conventional 'I'm sorry' statement?' Noctis was mildly shocked yet amused by this revelation. 'Now that I think of it, it kind of fits her tsundere personality.' "Well, I accept your apology." Noctis began. Lightning was about to say something in return but Noctis stopped her by holding out his hand. "To be honest, your insult wasn't what got to me. It was what you said that might have been entirely accurate." He sat down on his bed. He sat in complete silence looking down at the floor before feeling a weight resting upon the portion of the bed beside him. He looked to see Lightning staring back at him with curiosity in her eyes. "You're right, I was weak. I was too weak to protect my kingdom, too weak to protect my friends, too weak to even protect….my wife."

'He's married? Then again, he did call out that girl's name.' Lightning thought to herself, recounting the incident in the forest. 'Well, that was an interesting development. Making out with a widower, it would make for an awfully amazing scandal.' Her chibi inner desires smirked lecherously and licked her lips. This made her chibi rational self stomped on her foot, causing her inner desires to yell in pain. 'Would you shut up? Things are taking a turn for the serious note.' Her rational self reprimanded.

"Back home, we chanced upon this man, although I wouldn't exactly call him one. His name is Ardyn, who apparently had some ties to the royal blood that currently flows within me. He had lived for two thousand years, waiting for a chance to exact revenge on the royal bloodline and so he did. He turned my kingdom of Insomnia into a living hell, even sicced his daemons to kill anyone who opposed him. And he did all this just to claim the throne for himself." Noctis said, his mood turning sour by the minute. "He killed many who were close to me. My father, Cor, even my Luna. My friends and I went to confront him, but he was too strong. He shredded all four of us, even came close to killing me if the portal hadn't transported me here in time."

Tears started to pour out of his eyes. "I failed them. I failed them all. I couldn't defeat Ardyn, all because I was too weak. Even with all this," He then materialized crystalised versions of his thirteen royal arms that circled around him. "I still couldn't defeat him. The weapons left behind by my predecessors, all holding unparalleled power and I still couldn't defeat him. I'd so much power, yet I never felt so powerless against him. It just makes me wonder if I was even cut out to be a king." He rubbed away the stray tears that fell down his face. "Sorry that you had to see me like this. Go ahead, you can mock me if you want."

He suddenly felt himself being pulled into a tight hug. He was startled for a moment, and then nested himself within Lightning's embrace shamelessly letting tears stream down his face. "Shhh, it's okay Noctis. It's alright." Lightning hushed him while combing her hand through his black locks. "I know that feeling too, the feeling of failing the ones you love. I lost my sister in a catastrophe, one that I felt so powerless against. It took me a while to come to terms with my sister's death, but I still couldn't shake off that feeling of guilt that I could have done something to prevent it. Over time, I came to realise that I should stop blaming myself. I can't really describe how, but it felt as though my sister came to me. I felt her tell me that I should continue to live for her sake, to fight for what's right and to never give up. Over time, I healed because of those words. I'm pretty sure that your father and Luna would want you to do the same as well."

They stayed in silence for a while, Noctis still within Lightning's embrace. Noctis turned his head to look up at her. "Thanks. That really helped." Noctis said. "Guess you're not so bad after all." Lightning scoffed. "Oh please, it's not like I don't have a heart or anything." She then proceeded to gently wipe away the tears from the corners of Noctis' eyes. "Tears like those don't belong on your face. Takes away your usual spunk." When Lightning's hand made contact with his face, Noctis envisioned Luna in her place. 'This comfort reminds me so much of Luna.' Noctis thought as he stared intently at her. Lightning sensed his stare and felt her face heat up a little. Noctis leaned upwards while Lightning grew even redder.

'Hang on, is he….is he trying to kiss me?' Lightning thought to herself. 'Go on then, what are you waiting for?' Her inner desires spoke before nudging her head towards Noctis' direction. 'Do it.' Lightning shifted her head and leaned downwards closing her eyes. They were getting closer to each other with each passing second, feeling each other's breath. Little did they know that they were being watched from the crack of the slightly ajar door.

 _(Meanwhile from the other side of the door….)_

"This is a stupid idea, Tifa." Cloud deadpanned, earning a shush from the martial artist. "Not so loud, Cloud, they'll hear you." Tifa replied before turning back to look through the door. "Besides, such a moment can't be missed." Cloud merely rolled his eyes in reply. Eventually, curiosity got the better of Cloud. "So, what are they doing now?" Cloud asked. "They're just talking. Oooh, now they're cuddling." Tifa replied before noticing the couple leaning towards each other after an exchange of words from Lightning's part. "Oh my! What an interesting development! Now they're going to kiss!" Tifa quietly exclaimed, shuffling forward slightly to get a closer look. Luck certainly doesn't shine brightly on nosy people as Tifa suddenly found herself falling forward after losing her footing. "Ahh shit!" Tifa cried out.

 _(Back with Noctis' and Lightning's 'private' moment….)_

Just as their lips were close to brushing against each other, they heard a loud cry of "Ahh shit!" followed by an "Ompf!" near the door. They turned to look at the source of the noise to find Tifa lying chest first on top of Cloud, having pulled Cloud down with her after the latter had attempted to grab her arm. "Hehehe, oops." Tifa exclaimed with an uneasy laugh. Both Noctis and Lightning raised an eyebrow at the position they were in. "Were you two making out with each other or were you guys eavesdropping on us?" Noctis cocked his head to the side, confused. Tifa let out a squeal and roughly pushed herself off Cloud realizing the position that she was in, blushing heavily. Cloud grunted at the roughness and stood up as well but looked back at them with an unreadable expression.

"Speaking of intimate, you two were very close to each other. And might I say it's two-sided this time." Cloud stated knowingly. Noctis looked at Cloud blankly for what it seems like forever before it hit him. He turned to Lightning with sudden realization. "Wait, back in the forest…. Did you try to…." Noctis asked, unsure of what to think at this point. Lightning turned dark red. "It's not how it sounds like, dipshit!" She exclaimed before bashing Noctis across the face. 'Not again.' Noctis thought to himself before he felt a familiar sheet of darkness enveloping him once more.

 _(Later)_

Noctis awoke lying on his bed. He winced as he felt his right cheek stung even more. 'Damn, at the same place too. That woman is far too abusive sometimes.' He thought to himself as he sat up, well tried to sit up as he felt a weight on his chest. He looked down to see a sleeping Lightning laying her head on his chest. He looked further to see that she was seated on a stool right beside his bed. 'She seriously needs help controlling her anger issues.' He thought to himself as he shifted his left arm to gently poke Lightning's cheek. 'Hmm, she's not waking up.' He applied more pressure in his next poke, only to receive the same still response. 'Still nothing huh. I wonder if I….' Noctis raised his palm, his fingers outstretched ready to slap the sleeping girl silly. He thought better of it and rested his palm on her head, stroking it gently. 'When she's not in tsundere mode, she kind of looks cute asleep.' He thought to himself as he continued his ministrations.

He felt her stir awake after a few minutes, a thin line of drool escaping down the left side of her lips. He resisted the urge to snicker at the sight and settled with a simple "Hi." She abruptly sat up straight after hearing his voice. "Ummm, hi to you too." Lightning replied. "So, no hard feelings about being knocked out again?" Noctis sat up, his body setting into a thinking posture as his face scrunched up in faux concentration. "Hmmm, there's still a stinging sensation in my right cheek after the last time. Your latest one just made it worse. But yeah, no hard feelings." He sarcastically replied. "Come on, I said I was sorry." Lightning said. "You've never apologised for that before." Noctis deadpanned. "I'm apologising now." Lightning hastily replied. "Wh….what can I do to make it up to you? I'll do anything." Noctis gave her a mischievous smirk. "Anything?" He asked as he leaned in close. Lightning saw his grin and immediately started to regret her words, but she wasn't going to back out now. She had never broken a promise to people before. "Yes?" She said with uncertainty, mentally steeling herself for the possible humiliation she will be subjected to in a few minutes.

"For starters," Noctis began, his grin widening. "Clean up that drool on your face." "...Huh?" was Lightning's reply to Noctis' statement after she lifted her left hand to the corner of her lips to find that it was more than moist. Shocked, she lifted up her entire arm to wipe away her drool with her sleeve. "Next on my list," Noctis said. "Take a couple of napkins from the nightstand and wipe away the drool you left on my chest." A light pink dusted across her face as she took the napkins and wiped her drool off Noctis. As she was wiping, she got progressively redder due to the fact that she was basically feeling Noctis up again for the second time.

Noctis just looked on with a triumphant look on his face. "You missed a little, just over here." Noctis pointed to his slightly exposed chest. This made Lightning blushed a volcanic red, which grew worse when she made contact with his bare chest. "Wait a second…." She said as she touched his chest, only to find that it wasn't wet at all. She narrowed her eyes at Noctis, who had a shit-eating grin on his face. "You…." Noctis couldn't hold it in and broke out into a hysterical laugh. "Ohh! Ohh man! The look on your face is just….priceless!" Noctis said through laughs.

Just as Lightning was about to hit him yet again, Tifa walked into the room. "What's with all the…. Oh, never mind." Tifa said while blushing as she saw their position. It took Lightning a while to realise that she was basically kneeling on his bed leaning towards him. What made it even worse was that her hand was still on his exposed chest, leading Tifa to assume the wrong idea. "Wait! It's not what you think!" Lightning tried to explain. "Oh no, I don't mean to intrude. Just….make sure to clean up after yourselves. Don't want to get any stains of dubious origins on the bedsheets if you know what I mean." Tifa said with a wink before hastily leaving while shutting the door behind her harder than usual. Noctis was just staring blankly at the exchange between both women, confused by Tifa's words.

"Hmm, wonder what that was about?" Noctis commented before turning back to face a beet red Lightning. "Hey woman, you okay? Are you sick again?" He asked before reaching his hand forward towards her forehead. Lightning made no move to retaliate, for she had fainted from embarrassment after Tifa's statement. "What the…. How can someone faint while kneeling on a bed? You've got to be shitting me." Noctis said to nobody in particular with a sigh as he shook his head.

He sighed once more before lifting her up bridal style and carried her back to her room. Walking past Tifa in the corridor, she turned and commented: "Woah, how hard did you do it to make her lose conscious like that?" Ignoring her observation, Noctis used his elbow to open the bedroom door and gently laid Lightning on the bed. "Geez, she can be such a handful sometimes." He mumbled to himself before laying the blanket over her and quietly leaving the room. Closing the door behind him, he turned around only to come face-to-face with a grinning Tifa. "So, how was it?" Tifa asked with a cheshire grin. "How's what?" Noctis asked dumbly. "You know….that." Tifa clarified. "Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about. But if you must know, she'll be perfectly fine. Although, she might show up the next morning all red and in a daze." Noctis replied, causing Tifa to adorn a heavy blush. "I mean it looks like she contracted another fever or something." Tifa's blush died down to a blank stare. "...What?" She asked in disbelief. 'Just how dense is he?' She thought to herself. "Anyways, I'm going to get something to eat. Are there any eateries nearby?" Noctis asked. Tifa's eyes lit up. "Oh, I have just the thing for you. Come downstairs in five minutes."

 _(Five minutes later….)_

"Tada! A perfect dinner for such a late hour!" Tifa exclaimed as she served Noctis….piping hot cup noodles. With a pair of chopsticks, Noctis picked up some noodles. Once it had cooled down, he took a bite. _ *****_ **"** **凄いです** **!"*** Noctis exclaimed as he was amazed by the taste of the noodles that his eyes started to sparkle. He rushed to get another chopsticks full of noodles into his mouth, completing neglecting the fact that it was steaming hot. Soon, he felt a burning sensation down his throat. "Aaahh!" He drew rapid breaths to cool down his inflamed throat, which earned a boisterous laughter from Tifa. "You're just like a little kid, Noctis." Tifa said, trying to stifle down her giggles. "Damn, that was boiling! I'm never doing that again!" Noctis replied as he looked down at the cup noodles. "This is one of the best things I've eaten by far. You should be immensely proud of your incredible cooking skills." He complimented Tifa with admiration and awe in his eyes. "It's not really much of a challenge." Tifa sweatdropped. "But thanks. It's curry flavour by the way." Tifa took a seat opposite him as he continued to tuck into the cup noodles. "Where's Cloud?" Noctis asked with a mouthful of noodles. "He went out." Tifa said nonchalantly. "I see… So… You and Cloud are a thing, right?" Noctis asked. Tifa then went scarlet red in the face and started fiddling with her thumbs. "Well…. We're….he….it's complicated." She said before sighing. "Cloud doesn't explicitly show it, but I know he cares about me. I'm just….not too sure if he feels the same way I feel about him."

"Hmmm, I see." Noctis replied acknowledging with a nod. "What about you? How about you and that Lightning girl?" Tifa asked with a smirk. Noctis just stared blankly at her. "...Huh?" "Come on, you've should have seen the way she looks at you sometimes. Not to mention, your last escapade in the bedroom…." She said while raising her eyebrow up and down with a sly smirk. "Oh, I was just teasing her." Noctis replied while slurping down some soup. "Ah yes, nothing like a little foreplay before the main event." Tifa casually commented, causing Noctis to spit out the contents in his mouth towards Tifa before breaking into a coughing fit. He looked back up to see Tifa caked in curry-flavoured soup. "Sorry, your last statement really threw me off back there." He said in between coughs. "You thought we were doing….that back then?"

Tifa grimaced as she wiped off the liquid from her face with a handkerchief. "Yes." She said while gritting her teeth. "At least, from where I was looking." Noctis just placed his face into his cupped hands. "What I meant was that I was just playing a prank on her, for Ifrit's sake." Noctis replied, his voice muffled by his enclosed hands. "Besides, we'll never do that with each other. We don't even like each other." Tifa just raised an eyebrow. "Really? It's clear she's totally into you. Or you haven't noticed?"

"She is?" Noctis sceptically asked. 'Ugh, never should have asked.' Tifa thought to herself as she shook her head. "In all seriousness though, I think you should go for her." Tifa said. "What? No, no way." Noctis replied. "Besides, I already have….had a significant other." "Uh huh." Tifa replied, unconvinced. "Anyways," Noctis started, changing the subject. "With you and Cloud, how are you going to deal with it?" Tifa took on a contemplative look. "I guess when this is all over, I'll tell him." Tifa said. "Tell me what?" Cloud asked, coming out from behind her.

Tifa shrieked before turning around. "Aahh, Cloud! Where the hell did you come from!?" Tifa exclaimed. "I've been back for quite a while." Cloud replied while holding two bags of groceries. "How much of our conversation did you hear?" Tifa nervously asked. "Only the part when you wanted to tell me something." Cloud replied while packing the groceries into the fridge. 'Oh, thank goodness he only heard the last part.' Tifa thought to herself as she heaved a sigh of relief. "So," Cloud began while leaning closer to her. "What exactly were you going to tell me?" Tifa blushed at the close proximity. "It's….nothing too important. It can wait." She said with an uneasy laugh. Cloud just raised an eyebrow at her antics. "So, what exactly were you guys talking about?"

"Oh, nothing in particular. We're just having a friendly conversation." Tifa replied before turning to Noctis. "Am I right, Noctis?" She asked him with an uncomfortably friendly smile. "Yeah, we're just talking ab…." Noctis answered before slightly wincing from the pain in his right leg where Tifa had kicked him. "Having a casual talk, that's all." "I see." Cloud replied turning around to walk to the bar counter, not noticing Noctis' pained expression and a slight whimper escaping his lips as he did so.

"Oh yeah, haven't seen Lightning around." Cloud said as he poured himself a glass of water. "She's lying in her room, must have contracted another fever or something." Noctis stated. "...Right." Cloud replied, momentarily making eye contact with Tifa and shook his head at Noctis' obliviousness. "Ah yes, I almost forgot. We haven't quite shown you around Midgar yet." Tifa said. "What say I give you and Lightning a tour tomorrow?" "Think I'll tag along too." Cloud said. Upon hearing his statement, her inner self erupted in joy dancing with heart shaped-eyes. 'Yes! A double date with Cloud tomorrow!' She thought to herself. 'Then again, we could also use that time to push the two hopeless idiots together.' Tifa thought to herself, formulating a brilliant plan in her mind. Cloud took notice of her contemplative look and mentally shivered. 'I'm in for one eventful day tomorrow, aren't I?' Cloud thought to himself as he mentally sighed.

 _ *****_ **凄いです** *** (sugoi desu) - Fantastic**

 **And that concludes our fourth chapter. Be sure to read and review, not to mention comment or PM us should you want to tell us what you think of the story so far and/or feel that this story could use some improvement. And we'll see you on the next one.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, back here again with another chapter to the story. Hoped you guys liked the story so far. We apologize if the story progression seems slow so hang in there people!**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own the Final Fantasy Series. If we did, well we'd do something with it.**

 **Chapter 5**

Another day in Midgar, yet the same old happenings in the streets. People going about their business, the streets bustling with trucks carting around chunks of metal that were used for manufacturing new buildings. All in all, just another peaceful day. And what better way to enjoy such a peaceful day than have an outing to take in the sights and attractions of the big city? That's precisely the agenda that a group of four have in mind for the day. Well, almost everyone had the same agenda.

Humming a tune, Tifa was finishing up on some errands in the bar's kitchen. 'Let's see, dishes washed?' She thought to herself before looking over to the dish rack to spy several sparkling clean plates and glasses. 'Check.' She smiled to herself before heading over to the fridge to make sure that they had enough food for the week. 'Hmmm, seems that Cloud got everything.' The mere thought of Cloud painted a slight blush on Tifa's face, which made her shook her head and patted her cheeks. 'Alright, don't get flushed now girl. It's just a date.' She comforted herself as she evened her breathing. 'Just the very first date with Cloud.' She noted to herself. 'Now, is there anything else that I'm forgetting?' She adopted a thinking pose.

'Ah, yes.' Tifa took out a small notebook from her vest pocket. She flipped to a particular page marked with a post slip, the words on the top read 'Operation NightLight'. She studied the plan she had devised over the span of two hours the previous night to get Noctis to reciprocate his 'love' for Lightning. "Also, duly note that subject A (Noctis) is not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to affections. Be sure to drop obvious hints, but not too much to scare subject A off." She read to herself as she closed the notebook. " ***** **よし** ***** , the operation is ready to go!" "What operation?" A voice suddenly spoke out, which caused Tifa to shriek in surprise before turning around to face Noctis. "Well, well. Look who's all dressed up." Tifa remarked after recovering from her shock, earning a shrug from the man. "It's not much." He replied. Noctis had taken the liberty of shaving away his stubble, which gave a better view of his chiselled jawline and angular cheekbones. He was also fully clad in his Kingsglaive robes, now washed and mildly freshened with cologne. "It's basically the same thing I was wearing when I first landed in this world. I don't have a spare change of clothes." "You really need to upgrade your wardrobe, Noctis. And there are some fresh clothes in the closet, in case you didn't know." Tifa commented, which made Noctis shudder slightly from the memory of pink clothing when he first opened the closet. 'I got a feeling that Tifa had the major say in most of the clothing options.' Noctis thought to himself. 'Seriously, I have never seen so much pink in my entire life. I wonder if Cloud had to wear them at some point.' An image of Cloud dressed in a pink version of his usual outfit came to mind, which almost sent him into a laughing fit.

A few minutes later, Lighting came walking down into the bar area and saw Noctis' back towards her. "Morning, dipshit." She greeted him casually. "Ah, woman. Glad to see you're feeling well." Noctis replied, turning around so that Lightning had a full view of his front. Quite frankly, she was taken aback by his change of appearance. 'Wow, he looks way younger without the stubble. He even smells good too.' Lightning thought to herself while making a mental note to try NOT to blush at the sight. It failed of course, but at least she tried. Lightning immediately turned several shades of red, even starting to bleed from the nose as she continued to bask in his presence. "Oh gosh! Put a plug in there before you bleed out." Noctis said while panicking. "Hey, Tifa! Need some medicine over here, quick! Get some tissues, the cold pack, the ice pack, get anything and everything! The woman is seriously ill!" Tifa just gazed on at the scene with a blank expression on her face. 'Somehow, my plan seems a lot harder than I thought.' She thought to herself. 'Looks like I got my work cut out for me.' She sighed and shook her head at the mass hysteria that was Noctis.

It was then Cloud walked into the bar and smacked Noctis upside on the head. "Ow! What was that for?" Noctis yelled. "Shut it. You're too loud." Cloud said monotonously before yawning slightly. "Mo….Morning Cloud." Tifa said while fighting down a blush after gazing upon her blond-haired messiah. After his departure from SOLDIER, Cloud picked up several habits. One of which was that he was not a morning person, so one could see the dark circles forming under his eyes. Another behaviour was that he slept without a shirt on, so he practically walked around the bar without one. "Nice pecs, man." Noctis commented while rubbing the back of his head. Even though it was a common habit, Tifa still couldn't get used to how good his body looked. The way his biceps flexed with every movement, his shoulder muscles complementing a perfectly straight back, not forgetting his taut buttocks. But let's not get sidetracked from all the perversion that's currently going on in Tifa's mind, shall we?

"Do we really have to get up this early?" Cloud asked, rubbing his eyes as he poured himself a glass of milk. "Besides, Midgar isn't a very big city. Shouldn't take us more than a couple of hours to cover everything." Tifa snapped out of her daydream and stalked towards him with a 'friendly' smile. "Yes, Cloud. We do. Got a problem?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone as she got up right in front of his face. Cloud took notice of her penetrating gaze and visibly gulped. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that he had drank some milk prior to Tifa's statement and the sudden gulp forced the milk into his windpipe, causing him to splutter and cough. "Ack ack, no. Not a….ack….problem." Cloud replied between coughs as he beat against his chest. "Thought so, but time's wasting. With a tight schedule ahead of us, would you be a dear and put on something appropriate?" Tifa asked with the same 'sweet' smile before cracking her knuckles. "Or perhaps you need a little motivation?" "No mam." Cloud replied, immediately downing the glass of milk and rushed to the storeroom to get his clothes. 'She can be really scary sometimes.' Cloud thought to himself as he left, not knowing that his thought was shared by the two others.

 _(A few minutes later….)_

"Now that everyone is ready, what's say we get this outing up and running eh?" Tifa enthusiastically exclaimed. Her enthusiasm wasn't shared among the others, which made her eyebrow twitch. 'Looks like I have to do something about that...' Tifa thought to herself. "Ah yes, where's the little one?" Lightning asked, just realising Marlene was nowhere to be found. Knowing who Lightning was referring to, Tifa replied: "Oh, I sent her back to her father earlier the day before." Lightning merely nodded in understanding. With Noctis, he was confused. "Wait, there was a kid in the bar?" He asked. "Ah, you probably wouldn't know since you were cooped up in your bedroom for the majority of yesterday." Tifa answered. "Well, we all know why." Noctis commented as he turned to look at Lightning with the latter looking away while whistling a tune.

Just then, a window in the bar shattered. The broken glass scattered all over the floor, which drew the attention of the bar's four occupants. "Found ya, bitch!" Said a familiar punk-like voice that came from the outside. Tifa took a glance through the broken window before letting out a sigh and shook her head. "Ah, not these jokers again." She commented. "Friends of yours?" Noctis asked. "Lightning and I may have intentionally slighted them that one time." Tifa replied. "Of course, I knew that it had something to do with you." Noctis said while gazing at Lightning. "Well, it wasn't my fault. They started it first, and besides, it was your fault, to begin with." Lightning pouted. "My fault? I was just trying to take care of you." Noctis said raising an eyebrow while Lightning blushed slightly at his concern.

The two men walked into the bar, one with a mohawk and the other with multiple tattoos covering his body. "Took a bloody long time and a few broken bones just to find out where you were holding up." The mohawk man spoke, brandishing his butterfly knife. "As you can see, we brought some help." He beckoned for six other men of large stature to enter the bar, all armed with baseball bats. "Hey boys, how's your boss faring? Still nursing his throat?" Lightning smugly asked, which earned a glare from the two ringleaders. "You bitch, you'll pay for what you did to our boss." The man with tattoos spoke before taking out his stun stick from his vest pocket. "While I'm still in a good mood," Tifa began, cracking her neck. "I suggest you boys leave before I unleash hell on you for ruining a perfectly good day." "You best take her advice, boys." Cloud stated. "You don't want to get on her bad side." The men started to burst out in laughter. "Need your boyfriend to back you up eh?" The mohawk man spoke in between laughs. "Guess what happened that night was just a fluke. There's nothing to be afraid of you."

Noctis stepped forward and went directly in front of the mohawk man's face. "Alright, enough talk." He said before headbutting the mohawk man, giving him a bloodied nose. One of the large punks rushed forward with his bat ready to bash Noctis' skull in, but Noctis simply sidestepped and delivered a chop to his assailant's neck, knocking him out cold. Two men with baseball bats with the tattooed man in between came rushing towards Noctis. The two men with bats were elbowed in the face by Lightning and Tifa respectively, sending them to the ground with a thud. One of the men regained his footing and wildly swung his bat around at Lightning, all the strikes that Lightning dodged with grace. She then delivered a sharp jab to his abdomen and leapt up in the air to lock her legs around the man's neck. She rapidly spun around to disorientate her opponent before forcing him onto the ground and ending with a knee strike to his chest as she landed, knocking the wind out of him, which rendered him unconscious.

Cloud ducked beneath a man swinging his bat intending to lop Cloud's head sideways, only for his bat to clash against the face of another bat-wielding comrade. Cloud struck the man's chest with a palm strike, which was followed by a powerful punch to his attacker's chin sending him flying out into the streets through the broken window. He spun around to handle the man who was unintentionally clubbed in the face by his comrade, only to find Tifa engaging him in a headlock. "You guys just messed up a perfectly good itinerary." Tifa huffed as she spun the man around and choke slammed him into the ground. She failed to notice that the last of the bat-wielding men made his way behind her and raised his bat to club her head in. With a burst of speed, Cloud rushed forward and grabbed the bat. He broke the bat with a snap, making the assailant slightly piss himself. With fury in his eyes, Cloud looked at the man dead in the eye. "Never lay a finger on her." He snarled, before disarming the man with a chop to his wrist and delivered a powerful elbow thrust into the man's stomach, making him cough out blood before landing on the ground unconscious. Despite the brutality in Cloud's attack, Tifa couldn't help but blush at the chivalry displayed by Cloud.

"Thanks for the save, Cloud." Tifa said. "Don't mention it, Tifa." Cloud replied, his eyes still blazing with intensity from the fight. They turned their attention to an occupied Noctis briskly avoiding all of the tattooed man's strikes. "Should we help?" Tifa asked. Cloud shook his head. "No need, look." He replied as he pointed towards Noctis' face, which was plastered into a confident smirk. "He's got this covered." The tattooed man began to tire from his onslaught, making his next attacks more sluggish. Noctis, growing bored from just dodging, clenched his palm into a fist and suckerpunched him, sending him flying into the wall. He slowly stalked towards the fallen punk and grabbed him by the vest pocket. "Let this be a warning. Stay away from this place." Noctis began, his voice turning slightly demonic. "If I catch you coming near the girls or here again, I'll rip your loins off and shove it down your throat so hard you'll be smelling your own piss for two weeks. Do we have an understanding?" The tattooed man nodded, visibly scared as he cursed himself for not wearing brown pants to the fight. "Good boy." Noctis said before patting him on the head. He lifted the man up and dumped him unceremoniously outside the door, while Cloud and the girls literally kicked the other punks out.

After clearing out the trash, Noctis turned to look at the others, who stared back at him with astonishment. "What?" He asked. "Never knew you had that in you." Cloud mused, to which Noctis replied with a shrug. Meanwhile, Lightning once again found herself blushing at his words. 'He….cares about me.' She thought to herself. "Aw, look at this mess." Tifa remarked, looking around to assess the damage of the bar. "We'll need to clean up and pay to fix the broken window." She then turned- and spotted Noctis tip-toeing away. Noctis then felt a menacing aura and a grab on his collar. He slowly turned his head to face a little more than ticked-off Tifa. " ***** **ちょと** ***** , you are going to help clean up this mess, right?" Tifa asked in a sickly sweet voice that promised pain should the order be refused. "You did start the fight after all." Noctis visibly gulped. "Yes mam." He replied with a small salute.

"Good, now get some buckets from the storeroom and start filling them up with water. And get some rags while you're at it." Tifa ordered before slapping his ass real hard, making Noctis yelp in surprise, motioning him to go. Cloud and Lightning sweatdropped at the sight before rushing off to rearrange the tables to avoid incurring Tifa's wrath. As she walked past Lightning, she took on a sly grin and whispered into her ear "You should cop a feel of that ass. It's real nice and smooth." Her statement made Lightning blush hard as she thought back to the incident in the bathroom. Even she had to agree that Noctis has a nice ass. She violently shook the thoughts out of her head and resumed with her tasks.

 _(Several minutes later….)_

"Noctis." Tifa called out to the black-haired individual. "Yes?" He asked. Tifa swipes her index finger across the floor and swipes against it with her thumb. "Mind explaining THIS!?" The martial artist exclaimed before holding up her finger to show Noctis a faint blood smear. "Come on, no one will notice that." Noctis retorted, not realising the demon that he brought out. "THIS. IS. UNACCEPTABLE!" Tifa shouted. "I WILL NOT HAVE BLOODSTAINS IN MY BAR WHILE I'M LIVING AND BREATHING. TAKE A BUCKET AND CLEAN THIS SHIT UP! NOW!" "... ***** **はい** *****!" Noctis replied, not wishing to anger her further and ran off to get a bucket.

Tifa, fury blazing in her eyes, stalked over to Lightning. "Lightning." Tifa called out to the pink-haired woman. "Yes, what is it?" Lightning asked, turning around. "Why are the tables arranged like this?" Tifa asked. Lightning looked on blankly. "I don't see a problem." She replied, before realising that she might have made a grave mistake. "THEY WEREN'T ARRANGED LIKE THIS!" Tifa cried out with shark-like teeth appearing randomly. "THESE TABLES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ARRANGED TWO METERS FROM EACH OTHER WHILE TWO LEGS OF EACH TABLE SHOULD BE FACING 90o FROM THE BAR COUNTER!"

Tifa turned around, her fist clenched to her chest and her eyes comically caught fire. "I WILL NOT HAVE MY BAR IN SUCH A DISORDERLY MANNER! REARRANGE THIS SHIT NOW!" Tifa proclaimed, making Lightning cower in fear like a fresh recruit facing their superior officer which was something she hadn't felt for a long time. "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!? GET GOING, YA LITTLE SHIT!" Not wanting to be subjected to Tifa's wrath any longer than she should, Lightning went back to rearranging the tables in accordance to Tifa's directions.

Tifa walked over to Cloud, who was sweeping up the broken shards of glass. "Cloud." She called out. "Yes, Tifa?" Cloud, having witnessed her outbursts, was sweating heavily and his heart was pounding in his chest in preparation for the worst to come. "Good job. Keep doing what you're doing." Tifa said with a smile. "Once you're done, perhaps you could help Lightning over there with the table arrangements." "...Yes mam." Cloud replied, internally relieved that he had managed to escape. Tifa flashed a bright smile before walking off. 'Talk about a severe case of OCD and bipolar disorder.' Thought both Lightning and Noctis.

 _(One eternity later… Just kidding, it had only been several hours)_

"Great." Tifa cheered. "Now that everything's settled, it's time for our outing." Once again, her enthusiasm wasn't reciprocated for her three companions were seated on the floor and slumped against the wall, exhaustion written on their faces. "Try….us….again….in a few hours." Noctis said in between huffs. "Give us a moment, will you?" Cloud replied while holding an ice pack to his head. With Lightning, sleep had overtaken her and she was now, unknowingly, resting her head on Noctis' shoulder. The latter didn't mind, or rather took no heed of it. Tifa just stood there with her hands on her hips with an unimpressed look on her face. "Come on, get up guys. It's not that bad." Tifa exasperatedly said. Cloud took the ice pack off his head and looked at Tifa.

"You're right, it's not bad. It's worse." He stated before putting the ice pack back on his head. "Just give us a few minutes of sleep and we'll be as right as rain." Noctis said before yawning and shutting his eyes. Tifa could feel her eye twitch in irritation and anger as she stared at the three wasted companions on the floor. Given from recent experience, having an angry Tifa who was dead set on something was not something to be encouraged. After a while, she sighed. "Ugh, fine. I suppose the outing can be postponed to tomorrow. You guys earned the rest." She reluctantly said.

 _(The next day….)_

It was a quiet morning in the 7th Heaven bar, free from the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the streets. Noctis was snoozing away on his bed, all warm and tucked up. He was in bliss, so to speak. That bliss, however, was disturbed rather violently by the sound of an air horn that was blasted. Stirred awake, Noctis rapidly sat up and looked in the direction of the sound to find Tifa standing at the doorway holding said air horn high up in the air. "AH! What the hell?!" Noctis yelled in shock "Rise and shine, bitch!" She proclaimed. "Be ready in thirty minutes." Still recovering from the shock, Noctis watched on with wide eyes and frantic breathing as Tifa left, shutting the door behind her. Not two seconds later, he could hear the air horn being blasted again and the shrill scream of a certain pink-haired woman. He heard something along the lines of "Son of a bitch!" followed by a lot more expletives.

Groaning, he fell back down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. 'Just five more minutes of shut-eye won't hurt.' He thought to himself as his eyelids began to slowly shut. Just as he drifted back to sleep, he heard the door to his room abruptly open. "Don't you dare think about going back to sleep, Noctis!" Tifa yelled, her head poking through the opening. She then took on a slightly sinister expression. "You don't want to know what I might do to you if you're even one second late." She added in a threatening tone before closing the door. Tifa knew her threatening tone had worked as not five seconds after she left, she heard Noctis scrambling out of his room for the bathroom. As she walked down to the bar, a thought suddenly struck her. 'Oh no, I totally forgot that Lightning's using the bathroom now. I hope nothing will happen.' Just then, a loud piercing scream confirmed her worst fears.

 _(With Noctis….)_

As he made his way to the bathroom, he was drawn into deep thought. 'I've been gone for three days already. I sure hope Gladio, Ignis and Prompto got out of there safely.' As he was stuck in deep concern for his friends, he failed to notice that the bathroom light was on, indicating that someone was using it. As his hand twisted the doorknob, he opened the door to reveal a bathroom covered in steam and right in the middle was Lightning removing her bra. They locked eyes for a moment, before Lightning blushed a deep red and took in a load of air. "Wait." Noctis said, his right arm outstretched. "This scene gives an all too familiar vibe. Besides, you've seen me in such an indecent state before. So, why don't we call it even?" He met her eyes again with a smile, hoping for the best. For a moment, there was silence.

His mood slightly perked up at the prospect of resolving a matter peacefully, only for hell to break loose when Lightning let out a high-pitched scream. "Kyah! Don't you knock, dipshit!?" Lightning exclaimed, trying to cover up. "I had no idea you were using the bathroom, woman!" Noctis retorted, making a move to close the door. "Hold it right there, asshole!" Lightning proclaimed before picking up a wash bucket and flinging it at Noctis. Thankfully, the door was shut in time that allowed Noctis to escape another day of blunt force trauma to the head. 'Phew, that was close.' Noctis thought to himself as he made his way back to his room. 'Although, I'll have to think of an apology later.' Meanwhile, Lightning was hyperventilating as she leaned against the door. "Bloody pervert." She muttered, although a part of her wished she knew what Noctis had thought of her body.

 _(Thirty minutes later….)_

"Well, glad to see everyone's here on time and in high spirits." Tifa remarked, looking at her companions. Cloud was poker-faced as usual, Noctis was slightly unnerved and Lightning was beet red in the face again. Tifa sweatdropped at their unresponsiveness again. "Well, let's get going then. Right, Cloud?" She turned to Cloud and received a nod from her blonde childhood friend. As they set off from the bar, none of them noticed three hooded individuals atop the roof of a building adjacent to theirs spying on them. "Looks like we found him." One of the hooded individuals spoke before beckoning the others to follow him as they hopped over to the next building.

Noctis and Lightning noticed that there was still an upper level above them. The top was covered by section plates in the shape of pizza slices, but there were still openings for the sun to shine through. "Are we, by any chance stuck in a dome?" Noctis asked. Tifa merely chuckled. "In a way, yes." She replied. "There is another city above our heads, but those are more for the rich assholes living their lives on other people's hard work. It's also the home of Shinra Electric Power Company." "Shinra?" Lightning asked. "Basically, they're a huge corporation that supplies Midgar with its power generated from the Lifestream." Tifa replied, before her tone turned bitter. "The Lifestream is the life force of this world, and Shinra is slowly destroying it by taking it away bit by bit." "So, that explains why there was a barren wasteland after we left the forest." Noctis remarked, recalling the journey to Midgar on Cloud's motorcycle. "If the top is for the upper-class people, not to sound rude, but does this mean this level is more for the….um….unfortunates?" Lightning commented, receiving a nod from Tifa. "It might not look like much, but it's home." Tifa replied. "We may not have what those rich assholes have up there, but through years of scavenging resources, hard work and determination, we managed to build places over nothing. Same goes for the 7th Heaven bar." As they walk further down the streets, there were a few gangsters across the street who leered at them as they pass. "Of course, there are also the numerous gangs around here. So, we have to tread carefully." Tifa spoke.

They made their way to a huge marketplace. "So here is the Wall Market. This place used to be a popular red-light district run by a mafia led by Don Corneo." Tifa explained, nearly spitting venom when she said Don Corneo. "I take it he's not a likeable person?" Noctis asked. "He was the worst kind of person. He was a decrepit, perverted creep who should have been killed slowly. The things he did…." Tifa spat, her fists clenching before she felt a hand encompass her own. She turned to look at Cloud who gave her a reassuring smile while lightly squeezing her hand. Tifa blushed at Cloud's actions and smiled back. Noctis leaned forward and whispered into Cloud's ear: "Just friends, eh?"

"Shut up." was Cloud's response. "Well, if you two are done, can we move on?" Lightning interjected. They moved on to a building with neon billboards and multiple promotions. "Over here is the Honey Bee Inn. This place used to be the center of the red-light district and was famous for offering 'services' of any kind." Tifa explained. "Since the death of Don Corneo, this place has been refurbished and repurposed." "For what purpose?" Noctis asked. "You'll see." Tifa said in a mysterious tone. As they entered, they were greeted by the sight of women dressed in honey bee themed outfits. " ***** **おかえりなさいごしゅじんさま** **!*** " Two of the women greeted them with a curtsy. "A maid cafe?" Noctis asked. "Yep, the new manager didn't want the costumes to go to waste." Tifa replied. "It's been a huge success since he pushed forward the idea of a maid cafe. And you're not going to find good tea at a low price at anywhere else." They strolled towards a round table and sat down. "This place is amazing." Noctis looked around. The interior consisted of a large golden chandelier and roundtables arranged in neat rows. They were covered in tablecloths and each table had cutlery sets arranged for four people. There were two doors on the right side, one of them led to the kitchen and staffroom while the other led to the lavatories. The spiral staircase that led up to the second floor, consisted of more tables for customers during peak hours. There was even a reception counter in case customers would like to stay the night in the luxurious bedrooms on the third floor. "I'll give this place a five out of five rating!" Noctis exclaimed excitedly. 'What a child.' Lightning thought with a sigh while secretly thinking that this behaviour of his was cute.

One of the 'maids' made her way to their table and offered each of them a menu. "Welcome, masters and mistresses to the Honey Bee Inn. When you're ready to order, just give a shout okay?" She said with a wink, which was directed more towards Noctis and Cloud that earned a slight growl from their female companions before skipping away. "Hmmm, lots of good stuff they got here." Tifa commented. "Oooh, they even have several promotional offers." "So many options, it's hard to decide on one." Noctis noted. Just then, another 'maid' walked by. "Hello there, you must be new here." She spoke. "We are." Tifa answered. "It's pretty hard to make a choice, perhaps you could a make a recommendation?" The 'maid' thought for a while before a smile popped up on her face. "Might I suggest you try the lovers' set?" She offered suggestively, her statement made Tifa and Lightning blush up a storm. The 'maid' then flipped to a page on the menu titled 'Lovers' set'. The group scanned through the page before looking at each other and nodding. "We'll take it." Tifa said, handing the menus over to the 'maid'. "Excellent choice, masters and mistresses. Your order will be here shortly."

They sat in comfortable silence listening to classical music being played in the background while the food was being cooked. After a few minutes, the same 'maid' who handed them the menus came out with their order. "Apologies for the wait." She said before setting the food down on the table. "Enjoy the meal, prepared by our chefs with love." Their order consisted of a heart-shaped Shepherd's pie, 4 bowls consisting of two scoops of vanilla ice-cream drizzled with strawberry syrup and rainbow rice sprinkles with waffles on the side as well as two large 'towers' of strawberry milkshakes. What was peculiar about these milkshakes were that they were meant to be shared by two. "I call dibs on the first slice of pie!" Tifa cried out before reaching out and cutting a slice. She took a whiff of the slice. "Mmmm. Nothing like stewed beef and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes for brunch." She cut a tiny bit with her fork and put it to her mouth. Her eyes sparkled as she was bedazzled by the explosive amount of flavoring. "This is amazing!" She exclaimed before devouring the piece ravenously, earning a chuckle from Cloud. She looked at him with a mouthful of pie and blushed at her eating habits. She swallowed abruptly and dabbed her mouth with a napkin.

"Sorry, you just looked cute doing that." Cloud commented, making Tifa turn red. 'Did…. Did he just call me cute!?' Tifa thought while nervously chuckling. Noctis looked on at the two with amusement when something came into his peripheral vision. He turned to look at Lightning, who was holding a plate with a slice of pie on it. "Here, this is for you." Lightning said avoiding eye contact with him while trying to fight down a blush. "Thanks." Noctis said, taking the plate from her hands. "Hey, sorry about earlier. So, no hard feelings?" Noctis asked. Knowing what he was referring to, Lightning looked down so that he couldn't see the massive blush that came upon her face. "Uhhh, yeah, we're cool." Lightning replied awkwardly. They tucked in merrily into their meal in silence, with Tifa and Lightning occasionally sneaking glances at Cloud and Noctis respectively. "You want to share the milkshake?" Noctis asked Lightning, receiving a look from the latter. "I'm sorry, what?" She asked, wanting to confirm what he just said. "I asked if you wanted to share the milkshake?" Noctis asked with an eyebrow raised. This made Lightning completely flustered.

'Share a drink…. with Noctis? It'll be like a…. like…. like an indirect kiss.' Lightning thought to herself. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet." She unknowingly muttered. 'Ready for what?' Noctis thought to himself. "Alright, it's cool. I'll just share it with Cloud then." Noctis replied, turning to Cloud only to feel a hand resting on his arm. "Wait, it's not like I mind or anything. It's actually quite the opposite." She said, whispering the last statement. "What was that?" Noctis asked. "Uhh, nothing, dipshit!" Lightning blurted out with a red face, snatching the drink away. "I'll share it with you." Noctis just looked at her weird for a while before he shrugged it off 'Must be her tsundere kicking in again.' He thought. Tifa noticed the exchange and smirked before secretly taking out her notebook. 'Step one, set them up with a romantic brunch. Check.' She thought to herself as she marked the sentence with a tick before closing the book and placing it back into her pocket without the either two of them noticing. Cloud just raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

They finished up the rest of the meal and proceeded to make their payment. Tifa offered to pay since she suggested the place but Cloud insisted he pay for the meal, which made Tifa squeal inwardly from his display of gentlemanly attitude. "Thanks for coming! We hope to see you again!" The two women by the door cried out. 'I hope we never come back. There goes the rest of my savings.' Cloud thought to himself while slightly grieving for the loss of his hard-earned money. "Thanks for the meal." Noctis grinned widely, earning a slight blush from the two women and a slight glare from Lightning. 'You should be thanking me though.' Cloud deadpanned to himself. 'I did pay for it after all.' "That was the best meal I had in years. The offer was quite a steal too." Tifa commented. 'An offer that had me paying through the nose for.' Thought Cloud.

"Okay, where to next?" Noctis asked. Tifa stopped to think for a moment. "Let's head down to the weapons store." Tifa said. "Why? We've no need of additional weapons." Lightning replied inquisitively. "Well, it never hurts to check out a few things." Tifa spoke, turning around. "Plus, Cloud and I know the guy. He might give us some great offers." Eventually agreeing, the group then proceeded down a few blocks before reaching a store that had the words 'Cid and Co. Armoury' on the top. "We're here." Tifa said before opening the door. A tall, well-built man in his thirties stood behind the counter, cleaning the barrel of a pistol. He looked up as the door opened and smiled. "Ah, good to see you Tifa and Cloud. See you're all doing well. So, uh, you two tied the knot yet?" The man said, which made Tifa turned several shades of red and Cloud to look on with a blank expression. "I'll take that as a no then?" He asked before looking behind them. "Don't think I've seen you two before. New around here?" "Yes, they are." Tifa replied. "They're here to help with the 'situation'." This earned a nod from the man, knowing what she meant. "Well, feel free to browse through the shop. Name's Cid, by the way." The man spoke.

"Nice to meet you Cid, I'm Noctis." Noctis replied before pointing to Lightning. "And this is Lightning." "I see. So, you two together?" Cid asked with a smirk as he leaned on the counter. This earned him a questionable look from Noctis and a beet red Lightning. "It's a work in progress." Tifa whispered to Cid. "Ohhh. So, you need any help?" Cid asked. "Knowing you, it'll probably end up with something in flames. So, no. Think I can handle it." Tifa deadpanned. "Psshhh, says the one with the plans." Cid snorted. As they looked through the store, Lightning stumbled upon several ammunition boxes, particularly those fitting for her gun sword Blaze Edge. 'Hmmm, incendiary and explosive rounds.' She thought to herself as she looked through the boxes. 'This could come in handy, although I don't have the money.' "Interested in those rounds, miss?" Cid asked. Lightning turned around. "Oh, these are useful. But, I don't have the money to pay for this." Lightning replied. "Ah pish-posh. Any friend of Cloud and Tifa's a friend of mine. So, I'll give these to you for free." Cid answered. "Really? Thank you." Tifa replied.

"Hey, what are the chances of you giving one of these to me free of charge?" Noctis asked, picking up a rapier and sheath. "Uhhh, for you I'm not so sure." Cid said while narrowing his eyes. "Shame, this could have come in handy." Noctis said in a disappointed tone. Noctis then felt a tap on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I've got you covered." Cloud whispered. Noctis' eyes lit up. "Thanks man." Noctis said. That sparked the birth of a bromance between Cloud and Noctis. 'Although, a hole has basically been burned through my wallet.' Thought Cloud. 'Well, that other thing could work.' "Hey Cid." Cloud called out to the older man. "Yeah, whatcha need Cloud?" Cid inquired. "You mind giving that rapier to my friend over there for free?" Cloud asked. "Look Cloud, you're my friend and all." Cid explained. "But I can't go about giving freebies to everyone. I still need to make a living." "I see." Cloud said with an exaggerated sigh. "By the way, I wonder how Yuffie would react when she finds out about your secret stash of photos you subtly took of her." This earned a gulp from the older man. "Okay, maybe I can let this one slide. Just this once, Strife." He grumbled. 'Damn you Cloud.' Cid thought to himself. "You're the best, Cid." Cloud said with a smile. "Sure, asshole." Cid mumbled to himself. "I heard that." Cloud remarked. "Oh shit." Cid mumbled again. "Well, we love to stay and chat." Tifa said. "But we got other places to go. See you soon and thanks for everything." "Sure, no problem." Cid replied. "Take care, you four." They left the weapons store and headed out into the street.

"Looks like we still got half of the day left." Tifa remarked looking at her watch. "What say we grab some afternoon tea before heading off to explore more?" "Are you serious?" Lightning said. "We just had a filling brunch not too long ago." "Why not?" Noctis remarked. "Could fill up a bit more." "You're one to talk, for someone who didn't pay." Cloud grumbled. "Okay, let's go." Tifa said.

 _(After a 'light' afternoon tea….)_

"Wooh. I'm stuffed." Noctis said, rubbing his full belly. Meanwhile, Lightning was feeling a bit nauseous. "I don't think I can….umph….eat anymore." Lightning commented while holding in her bile. "Now that our bellies are full, let's do more shopping." Tifa cried out, earning a slight groan from Cloud. 'Great, more money just washed down the drain.' Sensing his uneasiness, Tifa said "Relax, Cloud. I'm sure we'll find some great deals at the clothing store. Besides, Noctis and Lightning can't keep walking around dressed like that forever."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Noctis asked. "We're standing out too much, dipshit. People will notice that we aren't from this world. And that makes us easy prey." Lightning lightly smacked Noctis on the head. "You are way too abusive sometimes." Noctis muttered under his breath. "Exactly." Tifa commented. "Besides, you're wearing too much black." "What's wrong with black?" Cloud asked. "Black's a practical color." "Yeah, and it's quite fashionable too." Noctis added. The two men shared a look before nodding at each other and that was how the first rule in the bro code was formed; the first rule was respect the color black. "It's too monotonous." Tifa replied. "You could do with much more color." "Beats wearing those pink clothing in the closet." Noctis mumbled. "Actually, Cloud was the one who picked out those clothes." Tifa remarked with a smirk while winking at Cloud. Noctis had a horrified expression as his impression of Cloud as an admirable big brother was shattered. " ***** **兄貴** **,** **なぜ** **?!*** " Noctis exclaimed. Cloud just shot Tifa a glare. "Tifa, I thought we talked about this." Cloud said in a harsh whisper. "You said you weren't going to tell anybody."

Unfortunately for Cloud, Noctis caught on to his statement. Whatever light that he held Cloud in, was gone. "So, it's true ***** **兄貴** *****." Noctis said, true horror written on his face. Lightning just looked on and chuckled while shaking her head. "It's not what it sounds like, Noctis." Cloud stated, trying to salvage the situation. Tifa merely rolled her eyes. "Come on, you two drama queens. Clock's ticking, so we better hurry to the clothing store." Tifa stated, taking Lightning's hand and marched forward. Not wanting to stay around Cloud, Noctis took off after the two girls, leaving Cloud behind to contemplate his thoughts. 'Where in my life did I go wrong?' He thought to himself.

 _(At the clothing store….)_

"Here it is, Yuffie's Wear n' Tear." Tifa exclaimed. "The previous owner Tobias had a habit of combing through the alleyways for clothes thrown away from the people living upstairs, tears them apart and restitches them together." Hearing the backstory, Noctis slightly cringed. "It can't possibly be sanitary, right?" Noctis commented. "Never knew you were such a hygiene freak." Lightning teased. "If it's concerning myself, no." Noctis replied. "I can go for days without changing my underwear." Lightning instinctively retracted away from Noctis, her face contorted into a disgusted expression. "Relax, it was a joke." Noctis laughed. "For the underwear part, at least." "Look guys." Tifa said while pointing to a signboard. "Fifty percent off all clothing and accessories with minimal item purchase of eighty bucks? That's a good deal." "Uh, we don't have any money though." Lightning commented. "Not to worry, guys. I'll settle it for you" Tifa said with a wink. "Just try not to go overboard." As they entered the clothing store, they were greeted by a familiar sight. "Cid!? What on earth are you doing here?" Tifa exclaimed. "I kinda owe Yuffie a few favours and I could some extra cash, so here I am." Cid replied, looking uninterested from the cashier counter. "If you're here, then who's manning your store?" Cloud questioned.

 _(Meanwhile back at Cid's shop….)_

"Come on, kiddo. Buy it while it's on offer." A dark-skinned man with a gargantuan figure spoke, draping an arm over the shorter figure of a teenage boy. "It's okay, I think I'll look for it someplace else." The boy nervously spoke. "No, no, no. You ain't going to find another one like these elsewhere." The man replied, getting uncomfortably close to the boy's face. "Just buy it, what's the worst that could happen?" The boy shuddered at the close proximity of the man's mouth to his ear and hightailed out of the store. The man just stood where the boy originally was and took on a serious thinking pose. "Hmmm, perhaps I should be more assertive." The man spoke. "Any luck, daddy?" From behind the cashier counter, Marlene spoke while standing on the stool. "Not to worry, sweetpea." The man chuckled. "I've got a whole gameplan thought out." He looked down to spy a wallet on the ground. 'The boy must've dropped it, wonder if he'll come back for it.' He thought to himself. As he looked up, the boy had entered the store once again. "Crap, I must've dropped my wallet….here." The boy's face paled as he met the man's gaze. The man took on a huge grin. "Now, now what's the rush kiddo?" He said while throwing the wallet up and catching it in his hand. "I believe we were in the middle of a business deal."

 _(Back to Yuffie's Wear n' Tear….)_

"Barrett's got it all covered for me. He's been a great help." Cid said with a smile, thinking of the money he raked in ever since Barrett started helping out at the store while his eyes turned into dollar signs. Cloud and Tifa sweatdropped at this. 'Pity the poor souls whenever they step into the store when Barrett's around.' They thought to themselves. Just then, a young woman with shoulder-length black hair walked in from the storeroom. "Oh, Cloud, Sis. What a pleasant surprise to see you all here. I've missed you." She exclaimed as she ran up to hug her sister figure. Tifa returned the hug while chuckling. "Good to see you too, Yuffie. Although, we did just meet a few days ago." Tifa replied. "Oh pssh. That was business, so it doesn't count." Yuffie said as she broke the hug. She looked on to Noctis and Lightning. Her eyes lit up when she saw Noctis. "Oooh, Tifa. Who's that hunk over there?" She asked, eyes turning into hearts. Tifa caught on to what Yuffie was insinuating and was about to tell her that he was off-limits when a light bulb appeared in her head. 'Maybe I could use Yuffie for my plan.' Tifa thought to herself.

"That man over there is Noctis. Why don't you go introduce yourself?" Tifa smiled. "*Gasp* Can I!?" She squealed in a childlike manner. " ***** **ありがと、ちふぁ姐さん** **!*** " She rushed over to Noctis and dramatically fell onto his chest. With her back against his chest, she looked up at Noctis with a seductive grin. "Hey there, handsome. I'm Yuffie." Yuffie said, her eyes becoming half-lidded. "You must be new around here. What say I give you a tour?" "Uhh, thanks for the offer." Noctis said as he leaned back. "But Tifa and Cloud are already showing us around."

"Oh, but I'd make for a much better guide, in more ways than one, if you know what I mean." Yuffie spoke with a suggestive tone as she turned around and traced her index finger on his chest. Meanwhile, Lightning was seething. 'That…. That bitch! The nerve….' She thought as a dark, suffocating aura began to engulf her. 'Looks like I'll have to teach her some manners!' She stalked over with the intention of pulling the shorter girl off her 'boyfriend'.

"Listen, Yuffie." Noctis said in a serious tone as he grabbed Yuffie's wrist. "A little kid like you shouldn't conduct yourself in such a manner." As soon as he said that, Yuffie's smile shattered. "Wh…. Wha…. What did you say?" She asked, her voice noticeably trembling. "I have no idea who raised you, but I'm sure as hell that they didn't raise you to act in such a manner." Noctis replied, his voice booming with authority. "I suggest you drop this behaviour of yours and reflect on what you've done." Noctis then crossed his arms around his chest, seemingly pleased with himself. As he opened his eyes, he looked down to see hell at its boiling point. "What…. did you…. just CALL ME!?" Yuffie looked up with fire in her eyes as she smacked him hard across the face. "I'll have you know that I'm twenty-two, good sir!" She turned around and walked back into the storeroom. "A jerk like you deserves to be single forever!" She yelled out as she shut the door behind her.

Dumbfounded, Noctis just stood there holding his sore cheek. 'It had to be at the same place Lightning hit me…. twice." He thought to himself. He turned to look at Cloud and Tifa. "Did I say something wrong?" He asked. For a moment, there was silence. An exchange of glances was all that was present. Just then, everyone minus Cloud just broke out into laughter. Confusion set into Noctis. "Come on, guys. Can someone explain to me what's going on?"

"Hahaha, seriously man!" Tifa said. "I knew you were dense, but I didn't think you were that dense." "My goodness, kiddo. You are one piece of work." Cid commented while laughing. Noctis just got even more puzzled. "Come on, what's the joke?" His statement only served to make the laughter louder. The laughter was only stopped when a shrill voice yelled out from the storeroom. "Will you guys just shut up outside!?" Yuffie shouted, unknown to others wrapped in a blanket and trying not to cry at the unfairness of everything. 'Why, oh why on good green Gaia have I been given such a body?' She thought to herself.

"Ohh, that was so hilarious!" Tifa spoke, wiping a tear from her eyes. "I think I better go check on Yuffie to see if she's okay." Tifa walked towards the storeroom and went in, shutting the door behind her. Lightning's laughter had died down to stifled giggles. 'That was funny. That dipshit sure is such a huge blockhead.' She thought to herself as she held a hand to her heart. 'At least nothing happened between them. I'm so glad.' "Anyways, I know you guys didn't come here to crack jokes." Cid said after settling down from his boisterous laughing. "So, go ahead. Shop to your heart's content."

 _(After hours of shopping….)_

"What a nice day." Tifa exclaimed as she stretched her arms to the sky. "Sure was eventful." Noctis commented holding his cheek. "For most of the part."

"In all honesty, you did deserve the slap." Lightning spoke. "You broke her heart." 'Although, I'm actually glad you did.' She silently thought to herself. Cloud just walked on beside Tifa. "I take it your plan was a success then?" He playfully asked. "Admittingly, no. I guess I'll just have to make a few more adjustments." Tifa noted jovially, making Cloud shake his head.

As they were walking through the illuminated streets of Midgar, three hooded figures clad in black dropped down from one of the buildings and landed in front of them. The groups stared each other down while people were going about their business around them, oblivious to the rising tension. Cloud and the others took a long look at their prospective opponents. There weren't too many features for them to be distinguished from each other, save their physique. The one in the middle had a lean figure, the one on the left was more muscled while the one on the right was lanky in appearance. "Who are you three?" Cloud asked warily, getting ready to unsheathe his main fusion sword blade. "Come now brother, Mother is waiting for us." The hooded man in the middle spoke stretching out his hand in a welcoming manner. "We've waited long for this reunion." The taller hooded figure on the right added.

"Reunion? Mother? What are you talking about?" Cloud asked, still trying to piece things together. "How could you have forgotten about Mother!? Forgotten about us, your family!?" The hooded figure on the left cried out in anger and betrayal. "Calm yourself, brother, before you drown this city in your tears." The man on the right spoke.

"Brother here, has been estranged for too long." The man in the middle spoke again gesturing to Cloud. "I think he needs some re-education." As he said that, a couple of strands of silver hair glided through the wind from the hood. It was something about the calmness within their voices, which made Cloud extremely suspicious about their identities. "Recall our Mother, Cloud." The man in the middle said cryptically. "You are who you are today thanks to her. Her blood flows through you just as it flows through us."

As Cloud put two and two together, his eyes visibly widened at the revelation. "No, it….it can't be!" He exclaimed, refusing to believe it. "What's going on?" Noctis asked, puzzled at the turn of events. Cloud clenched his fist and hardened his eyes "If you are whom I suspect to be, you're going down." Cloud said, unsheathing his main blade. "Right here, right now!" He yelled as he charged towards them, his hands holding the blade outstretched to the side. "Hmph! So be it." The middle one spoke one last time before all three leapt up in the air.

Everyone, having taken notice of the street that threatened to become a battlefield, retreated into the safety of the buildings,. Noctis unsheathed his rapier while Lightning configured her Blaze Edge into sword form. The three hooded figures threw smoke bombs at the group and encircled them, forcing Cloud and the others to huddle together for a better chance of countering any incoming attacks. The three brandished their Velvet Nightmare gunblades and fired at the group. Noctis, Lightning and Cloud expertly deflected most of the bullets with their blades while two of them nicked Tifa in the left shoulder and hip. Tifa screamed in agony as she fell to the floor.

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled as his eyes widened in shock. He turned back to his opponent. "Cloud, we must fall back!" Noctis shouted as he parried a sword blow from the well-muscled hooded man. "Go on!" Cloud yelled back in reply as he focused back on the lean figure in front of him. Just as the other two attackers were ready to take down Cloud, their attention was shifted to Lightning, who fired several shots at them. Rage consumed Cloud as he gripped the handle of the main blade tightly. "You'll pay for that, you bastard!" With that, he charged again at his opponent swinging wildly at him. His opponent blocked Cloud's swings with his blade and kicked Cloud causing him to stumble. "My, my. You really are crude, aren't you brother?" The lean hooded figure humorlessly remarked.

Sensing the opportunity, the figure then cast a Thundara at Cloud's direction. Cloud dodged the attack and conjured Aero at the mysterious figure. The figure gracefully dodged the attack, which made to a large indent being made in the wall of one of the buildings. "That's the best you got, brother?" The figure snarkily commented as he flashed a devious grin in Cloud's direction. "How disappointing." Cloud simply narrowed his eyes as his blade once again clashed against that of his attacker, created sparks from the contact.

 _(With Noctis)_

Noctis narrowly dodged the fast slashes his opponent had unleashed upon him. 'He's faster than anyone I had ever fought against!' He thought to himself. "Damn it!" He yelled in frustration. He then sheathed his rapier and materialised the Swords of the Wanderer in his hands. Noctis then warped towards his enemy and bombarded his opponent with a barrage of wild slashes. The figure barely blocked the attacks with his Velvet Nightmares. 'Hmmm, how very interesting.' The well-muscled man thought with a smirk. He intentionally slipped up and allowed Noctis to land a strike on him, causing him to fall backwards clutching his chest. He removed his hand to reveal a shallow wound just enough to draw blood. "Not so tough now, are you?." Noctis haughtily mocked.

The figure said nothing as he got back on his feet and holstered the Velvet Nightmares. 'What is he doing? No matter, I'll finish this now!' He thought to himself. Being overwhelmed by his arrogance, Noctis abandoned caution and warped in close enough to deliver a devastating blow to his opponent. However, the figure simply raised his right arm and blocked the two swords. "What?!" Noctis asked in disbelief, in shock that his swords were easily deflected. The figure smirked devilishly and raised his left arm. "You're good, kid. But, not good enough." He said as his left arm revealed a gauntlet with two prongs. A handle popped out and the prongs extended signalling its activation.

The figure then rammed the prongs hard into Noctis' chest, causing him to cough out a bit of blood. The gauntlet started to crackle with electricity and pumped its payload into Noctis with enough voltage to incapacitate him. Noctis screamed out in pain as the electricity coursed through his body causing him to convulse. The figure removed his gauntlet from Noctis' chest causing Noctis to go slightly limp and dematerialize Swords of the Wanderer unconsciously.

The figure dropped Noctis callously on the ground to crank up the voltage on the gauntlet. Feeling satisfied with the new voltage input, the figure grabbed Noctis again by the collar and stabbed the two prongs into his torso. Noctis let out a blood-curdling screech as the new voltage of electricity coursed through his body. His body convulsed even more violently for a few more moments before the figure released him. Noctis crumpled to the ground unconscious, drawing shallow breaths as he laid paralyzed and helpless. The figure continued to observe his work, sparks of electricity emanating around Noctis' body making it twitch occasionally. The figure casted Curaga on himself before walking over to where Cloud was fighting.

 _(With Lightning)_

Unlike Noctis, Lightning's opponent only posed a slight challenge to her. Each time she charged at the lanky figure, he would simply block or parry her strikes with the bladed portion of the Velvet Nightmares before jumping away and fired a couple of rounds. Lightning was becoming more agitated with the repetition of her foe's tactics. The figure merely smirked, fueling Lightning's irritation. Lightning gritted her teeth as she growled at the figure. "Why don't you come down here and fight me properly?!" She angrily said. "No can do, Miss." The figure replied politely smiling a cheshire grin. Lightning chased down the figure, an angry tick mark visible on her forehead. Little did she know that she was losing her composure.

The figure turned back to raise one of his Velvet Nightmares and took aim at Lightning. "Oh no, you dont!" Lightning declared as she converted Blaze Edge into its gun mode and fired a volley of bullets at the figure. The figure scoffed and leapt onto the rooftops of another building. Lightning landed across him and raised her gunblade towards the figure. She switched it back into sword mode before dashing towards the figure. The figure just sidestepped and kneed Lightning in the gut, bringing Lightning to her knees before a kick to the head sent her flying into the ground. Lightning was still able to get up on her feet albeit dazed. She shook her head and casted Blizzard in hopes of slowing his advances. The figure simply dodged and fired a shot at Lightning with his Velvet Nightmare, hitting her in the arm. Losing her focus, she stumbled a bit causing the figure to grab her by the shoulders and fling her into the air towards the direction where Noctis laid.

Lightning casted Protect on herself as she impacted the ground hard. Groaning, she stood up gingerly, feeling slightly sore. The crash had managed to dislocate her left shoulder and fractured her left ankle as well. "Shit, this is not going well." She muttered. The lanky figure landed gracefully in front of her. She got into her battle stance again but found it to be challenging due to the injuries she sustained. Even still, her stubborn nature prevailed as she prepared to assault the figure when he beckoned to something behind her. "Ah, I see that your comrade has been defeated. If he's lucky, he'll be waking up in a few weeks."

"What do you mean?" Lightning asked confused before turning her head around to see Noctis lying motionless on the ground. She gasped as she limped towards him ignoring the pain in her leg. The figure took aim again and fired another shot at Lightning, which hit her right in the chest. Blood seeped out of the wound, coating her outfit crimson. She dropped to her knees as she felt her strength fading away slowly before falling to the ground, face flat. "Hang….in…..there, Noc….tis." She struggled to say as her vision was getting hazier. Mustering her remaining strength, she willed her body to move closer to Noctis. The figure watched on silently as Lightning painfully crawled towards the comatose Noctis. "Hmph, pathetic." The figure remarked to himself before walking off leaving a bleeding out Lightning to attend to her electrocuted ally.

With little mana remaining, all Lightning could do was cast a Curaga on herself to close up the wound, causing the embedded bullet to drop out onto the ground. She tried to shake Noctis awake with her functional arm. "Hey, dipshit." She said in a shaky voice. "Please don't die on me." Her voice was breaking now. "Come on, dipshit! Wake up!" She desperately pleaded. No response. 'No, it can't be.' She thought to herself as she laid onto his chest crying for the first time in a long while.

 _(Back with Tifa and Cloud)_

With each passing minute, Cloud felt himself losing to exhaustion. Every swing felt heavier and heavier. The hooded figure continued to dodge all of his attacks with ease while taunting his opponent. "Come quietly now, Mother won't be pleased with the way you're acting." The figure said again. "I'm getting real tired of this 'reunion with Mother' bullshit." Cloud growled. The figure frowned beneath the hood. "So be it." He simply remarked with a sigh before taking out his two-bladed katana and bolted towards Cloud. Cloud didn't see his assailant until it was too late. The figure rammed his katana into Cloud's chest stabbing through it completely. Cloud felt himself going limp, coughing out blood in the process. The figure then pulled out his sword and wiped the blood off it. "I expected more of a fight from you considering how you managed to beat him." The figure commented as he inspected his katana.

Cloud sprawled out on the floor as the other two figures approached. "What have you done, brother!? You weren't supposed to kill him!" The lanky figure spoke up before casting Curaga on Cloud. Cloud regained some strength to stand up shakily using the main blade as a support. Just then, the well-built figure activated his gauntlet and electrocuted Cloud enough to knock him out. Deactivating the weapon, he slung Cloud over his shoulder before walking away from the battleground while being followed by the other two. Tifa saw the whole fight from a safe distance using Curaga on herself to remove the bullets from the wounds. 'Why couldn't I do anything to help Cloud? Why am I so useless?' She thought to herself with tears streaming down her face. She leaned her back against the wall and stayed there mourning the loss of her friend for a while. She then dried her tears with the back of her hand. "I've got to find Lightning and Noctis. Then we'll get Cloud back." She willed herself to get up and wander the streets to find her missing party members.

 _(Sometime later)_

Tifa silently scanned every corner and alley for Noctis and Lightning as she walked down the streets of Sector 6. 'Where could they be?' She wondered to herself. Soon, she heard her cell phone ringing. Digging into her pocket, she took it out and flipped the screen face up before putting it to her ear. "Hello?" She answered. "Where? Alright… I'll be there soon." Tifa pocketed the phone again and made a dash towards where Lightning and Noctis were, a worried look adorning her face.

She soon spotted Lightning lying on something or someone. "Lightning!" Tifa called out. Lightning raised her head and glanced over at Tifa with a sad look before staring at Noctis again. "What happened?" Tifa asked. She then widened her eyes as she saw the state Noctis was in. Majority of his body was covered in electrical burns, multiple stab wounds were found on his chest and he was unresponsive. "Wait… Let me check his vitals." Tifa muttered not believing that Noctis was dead. She placed two fingers on his jugular vein and concentrated on finding some contractions. "Ok… I've got a pulse but it's faint. I'll stabilize him for now until we can seek medical treatment." Tifa then casted a Curaga on Noctis healing up the burns on his body. "If only Aerith was here…" She quietly said.

 _(Meanwhile in a desolate room….)_

Cloud awoke with a jolt. He tried to take in his surroundings but his vision was shrouded in darkness. The air was cold and musty. He tried to move but found himself bound to a chair that creaked with even the slight movement of his body. "Ah, you're awake, brother." A voice from the shadows spoke. A bright light illuminated the room, causing Cloud to squint. As his eyes began to adjust to the intensity of the light, he was horrified by what he saw. He was in a laboratory equipped with various tools and wires connecting everywhere. What made it horrifying was a distinctive figure suspended in a pod of transparent liquid. Despite the number of devices and tubes hooked to the figure, its abnormal physiology was close to resembling that of a female human. "It's really her." Cloud muttered, barely able to comprehend what is going on. From the dark corners of the lab emerged the same three figures from Sector 6, their faces no longer hidden by their hoods, revealing carbon copies of a man he was very familiar with. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no. It can't be." Cloud muttered. "Oh, but it is." Another voice spoke out, though not from the three men. Coming into the room was a tall well-built man dressed in a long black coat with silver pauldrons, black boots and black trousers. The top of his coat was opened to reveal his chest with leather suspenders crossed over it. The most distinguishing part of his appearance was his long silver mane of hair and his cat-like Mako eyes. "It's been a while, Cloud." The new figure spoke with an evil smirk. "Sephiroth." Cloud growled. Sephiroth let out a maniacal laugh as he soaked in his victory. "I'm going to enjoy this." He said calmly as he glanced down at Cloud with a crazed look.

 **よし** **(yoshi) - Alright!**

 **ちょっと** **(chotto) - Hold on**

 **はい** **(hai) - Yes**

 **おかえりなさいほうじんさま** **(okaerinasai goshujinsama)- Good day, master**

 **兄貴** **,** **なぜ** **(aniki, naze)- Brother, why?**

 **ありがと** **,** **ちふぁ姐さん** **(Arigato, Tifa nee-san) - Thanks, sister Tifa!**

 **How's that for a cliffhanger to end off this insanely long chapter? We apologise for the delay, but the ideas just kept piling up and before we knew it, BAM! This was born. Anyways, be sure to read and review. Also, do note that we'll be including a bit of Japanese from now on in later chapters.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Reader's Note: Hey people, after a long as shit chapter and even a longer publishing time, we are finally back! Please read and review so that we can continue to improve further on this.**

 **Disclaimer: We do not own the Final Fantasy franchise. If we did, it have an R18 label on it.**

 **Chapter 6**

Noctis found himself lying down on a field covered in flowers and lush green grass. 'What is this place?' Noctis thought to himself as he slowly sat up and took in his surroundings. Suddenly, all the memories from the fight began flowing back into him, from Tifa getting shot to his defeat at the hands of an unknown individual. "Damn it all." He cursed as he vaguely remembered a surging pain of electricity coursing through his body before his world faded into darkness. 'Does this mean….that I'm dead?' Noctis solemnly thought as he wandered through the field. As he looked in front, he caught a glimpse of a silhouette. As he got closer, the silhouette started to take the shape of a woman. She had cream coloured skin with blonde hair tied up in a bun and wore a long white dress, which accentuated her curves. "Hello?" He called out to the woman in front, though there was a sense of familiarity that overtook him the moment he laid eyes on the woman.

"Hello Noctis, it's been a while." The woman said as she turned around, revealing an all too familiar face to Noctis. "Luna?" Noctis said as he walked up to stroke the side of her cheek, with Luna reciprocating by placing her hand over his hand that cupped her cheek. "I missed you, my Luna." Noctis said, leaning forward to kiss her, which was returned with equal passion. Their lips stayed interlocked for a few seconds before separating. "How I missed this feeling." Luna said. "I could say the exact same thing." Noctis replied. They held hands, interlacing their fingers with each other as they walked slowly through the field. "It sure is peaceful around here." Noctis commented, turning his head to look at Luna. "Is this what Heaven looks like?" "You could say that." Luna said, taking an exaggerated mysterious tone. "It's where the souls of everyone who passed on, walk through in order to receive their judgement when it's due." "Oh come on, knock it off." Noctis playfully scoffed, earning a giggle from his childhood friend turned lover. "Just kidding, my love." She said. "Truth be told, I don't really know what this place is. Gentiana did mention that our souls are linked by the Crystal, so maybe that's where we're at." "Strange, I spent ten years in the Crystal and I have never come across a place like this. Perhaps it's another of its many wonders?" Noctis wondered aloud. "You were locked in the Crystal?" Luna asked. "It's a long story." Noctis bashfully replied, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

"So, how's everything back in Insomnia?" Luna asked. "Poorly, I'm afraid." Noctis sadly replied. "Ardyn has turned it to a living hell." "And the others?" Luna asked, concerned. "I don't know, I'm stuck in another dilemma." Luna raised an eyebrow. "Do tell." She said. Noctis began telling Luna how he got sucked into a portal in the midst of his confrontation against Ardyn to another world, the people he met and their fight against three mysterious figures. "Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate." Luna said. "Tell me about it." Noctis sighed. "I failed them, you know? I was too weak. I couldn't protect my kingdom and now I can't even beat a random stranger. I'm supposed to be a king; the strongest."

Luna then slapped Noctis across his left cheek. "Don't ever say that about yourself, Noctis Lucis Calem! You are the strongest person I have ever met! Sure, you had your ups and downs, but you always found a way to bounce back up!" Luna reprimanded him. "If you aren't strong enough, then get stronger! The power to do that lies within you. Just remember to fight for what's right and never think that way of yourself ever again."

Noctis rubbed his sore cheek. "Funny how three women already slapped me across the face." He chuckled to himself. "But you're right, Luna. You know, Lightning said the exact same thing." "You are not seeing another girl, are you?" Luna asked, her eyes narrowing into slits as she glared accusingly at her significant other. Noctis put his hands up in surrender. "Come on, Luna! It ain't like that!" The comical look on Noctis' face when he said that made Luna giggle, which developed into a full blown laughter. "I'm only teasing, Noctis. But from what you told me about her, it seems that she's into you."

"She's….into me?" Noctis asked. "You are married to me yet you can't tell whether another girl likes you?" Luna asked, taking both of his hands in her grasp. "Well, we've been friends since we were kids. You know me just as much as I know you." Noctis began. "Yeap, you've always been the same goofy kid I fell in love with." Luna commented with a giggle. "I'm not that goofy." Noctis pouted. "Yeah, it only took you five years to realise I liked you." Luna added. "Whichever the case, you have my blessings if you want to get together with her."

"But you're the only one I'll ever love." Noctis replied. "Noctis," Luna interjected with a sigh. "You still have a whole life ahead of you. You can't be waiting around for me forever, it's selfish to both Lightning and to yourself. I'm not asking you to forget about me, I'm asking you to move on." Suddenly, the whole field was engulfed in a bright light. "What's happening?" Noctis inquired, slightly panicking. "It seems our time's almost up, just remember that whatever happens, I'll always be with you. I love you." Luna said before vanishing in the light. "Luna!" Noctis cried out, stretching his hand out to try and grab hers but all he could see was a bright light before everything faded back into black.

Noctis awoke with a jolt. He blinked his eyes rapidly in order to adjust to his dimly lit surroundings. He looked around and noticed that he was back in his room in the 7th Heaven bar. 'Luna… I'll cherish the times that we spent together.' He thought to himself. He then tried to sit up only to feel a sharp pain in his chest. "Argh! Damn, that hurts like a bitch!" He exclaimed as he clutched his hand against his heart. He realised that he was shirtless, his chest covered in bandages. He looked to his left arm to see that he was hooked up to an IV drip. His ears perked up as he heard the door open. Noctis tilted his head to look at the opened door to see Lightning walking in with a fresh change of bandages, a basin of warm water and a towel. Seeing that he had gained consciousness, Lightning rushed over to his side and placed the items she had in her hands on the nightstand. "Noctis, you're awake! ***** **よかった** **!*** I… We thought we lost you back there." Lightning said, taking his hand in hers with tears threatening to fall. "Heh, for once you're not calling me dipshit. For a moment, I thought I was going to have to change my name." Noctis replied with a hint of humour in his voice. "Besides, it'll take a lot more than a few electricity currents to kill me." "Don't go around joking about death like that! This is the second time you almost died this week! Have you ever stopped to think about how I… we feel?!" Lightning yelled, tears now streaming down her face. "Maybe I just want to almost die once and see how you feel, you fucking dipshit!"

Noctis just stared blankly at her outburst. "Has anyone ever told you that you cry cutely?" He replied. "Yeah? Well, it's your fault I'm like this!" Lightning shouted in between sobs. Noctis lifted his hand to wipe away the stray tears trickling down her cheeks. "Tears don't belong on that face of yours, takes away your usual spunk." Noctis said as he rested a hand on hers. "That's what you told me before, back when I was down and out." This earned a huge blush from Lightning. 'Hmmm, I wonder.' Noctis said as he thought back to the conversations he had with Tifa and Luna. 'I'll just have to confirm them for myself.' "Could you help me sit up for a bit?" Noctis asked. Lightning nodded, supporting him from his back as he proceeded to sit up. "Don't strain yourself too hard, you're still recovering." Lightning commented while propping a pillow behind him so that he could lean back.

"Thanks." Noctis said as he adjusted himself. "Sit still, I need to change your bandages." Lightning said as she unravelled the bandages around Noctis' chest. Noctis noticed traces of slightly tan pigmentation and shallow scars caused by the electrical burns he suffered when the bandages came off. "Tifa's Curaga healed most of your wounds." Lightning said as she dipped the towel in the basin and proceeded to wipe down his chest. "She said these will fade away soon."

"Shame, I might actually start to like them. Makes me feel more….masculine." Noctis commented, earning a hard look from Lightning. "Okay, okay." He raised his hands in mock surrender, only to slightly wince from the number of aches in his muscles. Lightning just sighed and shook her head. "I told you to take it easy." She lightly reprimanded him and she wiped off beads of sweat from the crook of his neck. "You know, I recall a time when we were in a similar situation like this." Noctis said. "Only, I had clothes on at that point of time." Lightning blushed as she recalled her 'payment' from the last time. "I'm only doing this because Tifa's busy at the moment." Lightning replied as she wrapped the new bandages around him. "...Right." Noctis replied, unconvinced by her words.

Neither said a word to each other for a moment as Lightning continued to redress his wounds. "So, how're you holding up?" Noctis asked with a concerned expression. "Fine." Lightning lied. Noctis narrowed his eyes. "Tell me the truth, Lightning." Noctis said. "Given that we were completely shredded by three unknown individuals, suffering a couple of injuries that are fully healed now and on top of the fact that you were in a near-death state for two days," Lightning began as she bounded the bandages, her words laced with sarcasm. "Yeah, I'm completely fine." "I'm only concerned for you, Lightning." Noctis calmly answered. "HOW CAN YOU STILL PUT OTHERS BEFORE YOURSELF AT A TIME LIKE THIS!?" Lightning yelled. "FOR ONCE, I HOPED THAT YOU ACTUALLY LOOK AFTER YOURSELF. JUST ONCE, THAT'S ALL I ASKED. AND YET, HERE YOU ARE TALKING AS THOUGH I'M THE ONE WHO GOT WOUNDED!"

Her sobbing came back full blown. "You think it's okay for you to die so long as the others you cherished are safe?" She asked as she choked back sobs. "Have you ever stopped to think how we would all feel if you died? What about how I feel? I've already lost comrades and family whom I cherished, whom I loved and cared for. I don't think I can take it anymore if I lost another loved one." 'I knew it.' Noctis silently thought to himself as Lightning looked at him directly in the eyes. "Yes, I have tried to deny it but I can't hold it in anymore." Lightning said as she took in a breath, preparing to confess what she had been feeling from the bottom of her heart. "I love you, Noctis! I love you so much that I don't ever want to have to bury you!" Noctis had no idea how to react. All he had thought about was confirming Lightning's feelings for him, but with the truth out in the open, he wasn't sure about a step two.

"Well? Have you nothing to say?" Lightning asked as Noctis' attention snapped back to her, the latter realising that he had been buried in deep thought he hadn't noticed that he remained silent for a long while. "I….I hadn't realised that you felt that way about me." Noctis replied as he then let out a soft chuckle. "How could I have known? I was always an idiot when it comes to such feelings." Letting out a deep sigh, he looked back at Lightning. "Guess it has always been my character, just as caring for the people whom I cherish is another part of my character." He explained before taking her hand in his. "Lightning, you'll never have to bury me or any of the others. I'll get stronger to protect….no, to fight alongside you and to ensure that the worst will never come to us. This, I promise you." The determination in his eyes and the sincerity in his tone was enough to reassure Lightning as she gradually calmed down.

Lightning looked back up to him and leaned forward, only to be stopped by a hand holding onto her shoulder from the front. Her gaze met Noctis', who had stopped her before she could capture his lips with her own. "And there's your feelings towards me." Noctis began. "I….I can't exactly reciprocate your feelings at this moment." Before Lightning could say anything in reply, he stopped her. "Remember back when we almost kissed when you comforted me?" He asked, receiving a nod. "Admittingly, I thought I saw Luna in your position. I know how it sounds, it was selfish of me to think of you that way knowing that you hold such genuine feelings towards me and I'm truly sorry." He began before looking back at her. "Right now, I'm not going to return your feelings by seeing you as someone else. I want to understand these feelings better, explore them with you so that I can learn to love you for who you are." Noctis thought he had said something wrong when Lightning sat in silence for a while before she looked up at him with a smile. "Thanks, Noctis, for telling me the truth." She said before giving him a hug, taking care not to accidentally lean against his wounds. "I'll help you, however I can." She began as he returned the hug. "You can count on me, just as I will count on you Noct." "Thank you, Lightning." He said. "Claire." She said as she broke the hug to look at him. "My real name's Claire Farron." "Claire, that's a beautiful name." Noctis complimented, earning a blush from Lightning. "You can only call me that when we are alone, got it?" She demanded, receiving a chuckle. "Alright, I promise, Claire." He said with a smile.

Unknown to them, their 'private' confession was spied on by a certain black-haired martial artist and her ***** **こうはい** ***** whom she addresses as her ***** **いもうと** *****. They had heard Lightning's outburst a while back, so they went up to investigate. Little did they suspect that they were treated to a nice soap opera in a literal sense. "Took her long enough to confess." Tifa commented. "A shame that he didn't return her feelings." Yuffie said in a disappointed tone before lightening up. "But that means he's not off the market yet." Yuffie said with a sultry grin, earning a smack on the head by Tifa. "Thought you didn't like him." Tifa asked her ***** **こうはい** *****. "I was joking ***** **姐さん** *****. Besides, I don't completely hate the guy." Yuffie replied while rubbing her head. "Learning that he's an idiot makes me feel a lot better." Her reply earned a chuckle from Tifa. "Should we go in?" Yuffie asked her ***** **姐さん** *****. "Nah." Tifa said while shaking her head. "Let's leave them alone for a while." The both of them then silently retreated away from the door. As they walked down the stairs to the bar, Yuffie looked at Tifa who carried a downcast expression. "We'll find him ***** **姐さん** *****. Knowing Cloud, he's going to be alright." Yuffie confidently said. "I hope so." Tifa replied. 'Where could you be, Cloud?' Tifa thought to herself.

 _(Meanwhile….)_

Shinra Central Laboratory of Military Research and Development have long been abandoned after the incident, that was Sephiroth going mad, happened. Although most of the equipment was intact, none dared ventured into that derelict white halls. The piercing silence was interrupted by loud screams that emanated through the halls. In one particular room, a bare-chested former SOLDIER was tied down to a chair at the mercy of an ex-comrade with long silver hair holding a bloodied scalpel while grinning maniacally. "Oh, Cloud. You used to be so much more entertaining than this." Sephiroth said feigning disappointment. "Just a few cuts and you're already withering like a wilting flower." Cloud glared at him with hatred, fresh cuts and incisions dripping with blood fresh on his body. "Why don't you just kill me already?" Cloud spat. "Kill you?" Sephiroth said with exaggerated surprise. "Why, I wouldn't have asked these three to bring you here if I wanted to kill you. No, I have a much bigger plan installed for you, your friends and the rest of the world. Until then, let's play a little longer, shall we?" Sephiroth took on a sadistic grin.

The sound of screeching metal against the tiled floor was heard as Sephiroth dragged a metal table into view in front of Cloud and strapped Cloud's right hand onto it. "What are you going to do now?" Cloud asked. "You'll see. This is going to be fun." Sephiroth said as he strapped Cloud's fingers. He then turned a knob on the table which separated the fingers apart from each other. "Hehehehe. I like to call this game 'Hide the fingers'. Oh wait, you can't." He chuckled. Sephiroth then took a mallet and slammed it down hard on Cloud's little finger. "AAhhhhhhhhhh!" Cloud screamed in excruciating pain as he felt his bone fracturing in two. "How weak have you gotten, Cloud?" Sephiroth asked with disdain as he smashed Cloud's ring finger this time. Cloud let out another scream and breathed heavily. "You're once a proud SOLDIER, but look at how pathetic, how utterly miserable and helpless you've become now!" Sephiroth yelled as he brought the mallet down on Cloud's middle finger. "Your friends have made you soft, Cloud. Time to change that." Sephiroth said in a low voice before bringing the mallet down again on Cloud's index finger, shattering the bone before smashing his thumb. He then repeated the process with Cloud's other hand making the already painful session worse. Cloud had taken deep wounds before but this was beyond his pain threshold. Sephiroth went to exchange the mallet for a lead pipe at one of the many racks that decorated the decrepit lab. "Can't have you running away from me now, can I?" He cooly said as he pulled a lever on the chair to raise Cloud's legs. He then raised the lead pipe and brought it down hard on Cloud's knees repeatedly until he was satisfied. "Hmmmm, I wonder if that's enough for today?" He asked himself. "Nope!" He grinned widely. He then took the lead pipe and struck Cloud's ankles hard ten times.

"Alright, think I've had my fill for today." Sephiroth casually commented before taking a look at his 'grand handiwork'. Cloud slumped over the chair, all of his limbs were contorted at awkward angles and suffered excessive internal bleeding. "Oh my, I think I may have overdone it." Sephiroth looked on with an exaggerated remorseful look before taking on a maniacal grin. "Pfft, as if there was such a thing!" Sephiroth raised his arms over his head and stretched. "Same time tomorrow then, Cloud. I'll be sure to BEAT the SOLDIER out of you!" He said with a sadistic grin walking away from the mess. He then stopped to face his three 'brothers'. "Try not to go overboard, we still need him." Sephiroth remarked before walking out of the room. The Sephiroth look-a-likes took a look at each other, before making their way to the mangled mess that was Cloud. "Don't hold it against us, brother. Think of this as a punishment for forgetting about Mother." The lanky man spoke before pulling out a pair of pliers. The other two walked away to a corner of the room before returning with a huge power pack and several wires. They connected the wires to the power pack before linking them to the pliers. The lanky man took a look at the pliers before bringing them together, creating sparks. "Now, how about we 'jolt' your memory, brother?" The lanky man said with an evil smirk before pressing the pliers to either side of Cloud's head.

Cloud cried out in agony as he felt volts of electricity course through his body. This carried on for a few minutes before the lanky man was stopped by his more muscled brother. "Kadaj, I've got a much better idea." He said with a grin before taking the pliers of his brother's hands. Cloud watched as the muscled man attached the wires to his gauntlet, which was now radiating and buzzing with electricity. He clenched his fist, activating his gauntlet as he walked in front of Cloud. "This is for Mother!" He cried out before stabbing Cloud in the torso with the fully revealed prongs, sending larger amounts of electricity through Cloud's body. Cloud was getting numb to the feeling as he felt his world going dark as the intensity was reduced to a mild stinging sensation. Foam was seen coming out his mouth as his eyes rolled back, his entire body shaking as he felt his flesh being cooked from the inside. "Loz, that's enough." The lean man spoke before pulling his brother away. "Yazoo, why did you stop me?! Do you not care for Mother?!" Loz cried out in anguish and anger, making Yazoo roll his eyes. "It'll be fruitless if brother is unresponsive to the punishment. Your anger would be wasted on him, as well as 10000 volts of electricity." Yazoo calmly responded while eyeing his unconscious blonde-haired brother. "Why don't we let sister handle him for the moment, then we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow?" Yazoo commented. Loz let out a huff before retracting his prongs. "Fine." The trio then marched out of the room, leaving behind a badly damaged Cloud.

Cloud was submerged in silence until his ears perked up at the sound of light, incoming footsteps that stopped at his front. Although he was too weak to respond, he heard a distinct, feminine voice conjure a Curaga that healed his entire body. 'This sensation…. It seems familiar…. Where have I felt this before?' Cloud thought to himself as he cracked an eyelid open. He caught a glimpse of emerald green eyes that held sympathy and warmth in them. It was comforting and yet so familiar, but Cloud couldn't put a finger on where he had seen this mysterious person before. Before blacking out, he heard the same feminine voice apologise to him before leaving.

 _(At 7th Heaven bar….)_

Lightning helped Noctis down the stairs, his entire weight resting against her smaller but well-built frame as she wrapped an arm around his waist to support him. "Sorry for making you do this." Noctis said, groaning as he felt his muscles ache with each step. "It's not a problem at all, Noct." Lightning answered. "Ah, prince charming's awake." Yuffie commented as she witnessed the duo walk towards a table, with Lightning pulling a chair for Noctis before taking a seat next to him. "But, it seems that he's now the fair damsel in distress." Noctis just flipped her off, which earned a disapproving look and a smack on the head from Lightning and a giggle from Yuffie. "Alright, simmer down you three." Tifa said as she walked in from the kitchen. "The others should be here any second now." "Others?" Lightning asked. "Oh right, haven't quite introduced you to the team yet." Tifa replied. "Not to worry though, you've already met some of them."

 _(Several hours later….)_

"They're late." Tifa remarked with an angry tick-mark on her forehead. "They're bound to arrive soon, Tifa. Let loose a little." Yuffie commented while typing away on her cell phone (*cough *writing fanfiction *cough*) to past the time. Noctis was sharing one of his childhood memories with Lightning, which got her laughing at most of the parts. Just then, a sound of an airship's engines could be heard from outside, which grew louder as it grew closer to the bar then stopped just as it landed near the main entrance. "Sounds like them." Tifa commented as she got up from her seat. The doors opened to reveal a humongous, well-built man with dark skin as he walked in with a little girl holding his hand, a man with raven black hair clad in a red cloak and a blonde man smoking a cigarette whom Noctis and Lightning recognised.

"Sorry we're late, Tifa." Cid said while taking a puff of his cigarette. "Had to run a few diagnostics on the 'big girl'." "Oh, it was no problem at all, Cid." Tifa replied with an eerie expression that Cid knew all too well associated with pain of some kind as she moved closer. Cid visibly gulped as Tifa pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it outside the window. "What have I told you about smoking in here?" Tifa asked, still with the same look on her face. "You had the cheek to show up a few hours late, and now you've the nerve to smoke in here eh?" "Come on Tifa, relax. We can't afford the Highwind stalling while we're high up in the air now, can we?" Cid said with an uneasy laugh. "Besides, it was only a couple of hours." Tifa merely nodded. "Just a couple of hours?" She said with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "I don't suppose you're looking for a bruising, are you?" "Ah, no mam. Sorry mam." Cid replied while bowing. Noctis and Lightning looked on with a sweatdrop. "Girl's tough, but seriously has to let loose sometimes." She whispered to Noctis. 'Speak for yourself.' Noctis thought to himself as he nodded in reply.

"Auntie Tifa!" A little voice cried out before a brown blur zoomed across the room and bumped into Tifa, encasing her in a tight hug. "Marlene! Good to see you again. Have you been a good girl?" Tifa asked as she smiled and hugged back. "Yeap! Look!" Marlene said as she held out her blackened hands. "I helped uncle Cid today with the ship." Tifa looked at Cid with a stern expression, earning a gulp from said man. "Oh, he did. Didn't he?" Tifa said, nearly gritting her teeth as she said that. "Why don't you go wash your hands, sweetie? I'll bring you some cookies and milk later." "Yay, thanks, auntie Tifa!" Marlene said as she skipped towards the kitchen sink. "I'm going to have a few words with you later, Cid." Tifa said with a dangerous smile as she walked past Cid. Cid visibly paled at the implication of her words and proceeded to mentally prepare himself for the punishment to come.

On that day forth, another side of Tifa was unveiled. One akin to that of an overprotective mother who doesn't worry about getting her hands bloody to teach a certain engineer a lesson never to involve her daughter figure in the hazards of his work. All video footage had to be erased, and a legal agreement had to be signed on the terms that none would ever speak of the events that transpired, which could potentially tarnish the bar's well-established presence. But, we'll save his trashing for later on in the chapter.

"That bitch scares the shit out of me." Cid muttered to himself. "Careful, she might hear you." The dark-skinned man said as he walked past towards Noctis and Lightning to introduce himself. "So, the 'other-worlders' huh?" He said as he outstretched his flesh arm. "Please to make your acquaintance. I'm Barrett Wallace, you can call me Barry if you want." "Nice to meet you, I'm Noctis." Noctis introduced as he shook his hand. "Although, I actually prefer to address you as Barrett." A boisterous laughter emerged from Barrett as he took his seat on a chair. "If that floats your boat, I'll have it no other way." He commented and took a swig of beer that Tifa had passed to him. His eyes made contact with Lightning's. "Who's this lovely lady? She your girlfriend?" He asked. His question cause a massive blush to appear on Lightning's face. "Our relationship is a….work in progress." Noctis answered, carefully choosing his words. "This here is Lightning."

"What's a girlfriend, auntie Tifa?" Marlene asked, overhearing their conversation. "You'll understand when you get older, sweetie." Tifa said as she set a plate full of cookies and a glass of warm milk on the table. "Does it mean that they are together, auntie Tifa?" Marlene questioned while biting into a cookie. Tifa was stunned by her question. "Yes, sweetie. In a way." Tifa uneasily said. "Are they going to do the tango in bed?" Marlene innocently asked as Tifa widened her eyes in shock while Barrett choked on his beer. "Where….where….did you hear….that from?" Tifa stammered. "Uncle Cid told me about it." She replied. Cid immediately felt two pairs of eyes with killer intent directed towards him. He shuddered as he saw Barrett and Tifa closing in on him while cracking their knuckles. "Hey, I almost forgot. The Highwind could do with some last minute checks before we fly off. So uhhh, hehe…. Gotta make sure she's a-ok to go." Cid said slowly before hightailing out of the bar, with an angry father and equally ticked off mother figure pursuing after him. "Get back here, ya little shit!" Tifa cried out. "You owe us an explanation, and you better have a damn good reason boy!" Barrett yelled out. "Shhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttt!" was all that was heard from Cid as screams of agony were heard in the distance followed by the sounds of a good pounding.

 _(After a good ass beating….)_

Tifa and Barrett strolled back into the bar, dragging an unconscious and comically beat up Cid by the legs. "We could really use a restraining order before Marlene learns about something else she shouldn't know." Tifa said with a huff as they set Cid unceremoniously on the ground. The man in red squat beside Cid and proceeded to poke him with his clawed gauntlet. "What's his deal?" Noctis asked Barrett pointing towards the man in red. "That's Vincent Valentine. He's a weird one, but he doesn't bite." Barrett answered. "Basically, he had a ton of shit go down in his life that made him like this. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details though." "Thanks, man." Noctis said before slowly walking towards Vincent, taking care not to overexert himself. "Hey." Noctis called out as he tapped him on the shoulder. Vincent turned his head to look at Noctis. "Yes?" He asked. What made Noctis shudder was that Vincent had turned his head a whole 180 slowly and looked right at him dead in the eyes. "Uh, just came by to say hi, that's all." Noctis replied with an uneasy laugh. "Oh, hi." Vincent monotonously replied before turning his attention back to poking an out of commision Cid.

Noctis walked back and took his seat beside Lightning. "You really are a huge social butterfly, aren't you?" Lightning asked, receiving a shrug from Noctis. "Okay!" Tifa called out as she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Now that we're all here, let's get to the task at hand." She sat on top of the counter. "I'm sure that all of you are aware of the various incidents we've been having these past few months." This earned nods from the room except Marlene who heartily tucked into her meal and Vincent who was still poking an unconscious Cid. "And as you might know, one of these incidents transported these two guys from their worlds to ours. The reason, however, is still unclear." Tifa explained briefly while pointing towards Noctis and Lightning. "Lastly, we were attacked by three unknown figures yesterday. We don't know why they attacked, but we have reasons to suspect that these incidents and Cloud getting captured were premeditated by the same party. Who this party is, however, is still a mystery. Although, I may have a suspicion on who might be behind all this." There was a long silence in the bar. They couldn't believe that Cloud had been defeated in battle by three strangers.

"So… where do we find him?" Vincent said while still poking Cid. "We don't know where to start actually. We could start by sweeping the entire district, from sector to sector. And please stop poking Cid. It's not going to get him up anytime soon." Tifa hesitantly replied. Vincent looked back at Cid's face, which now had a lot of indents in it. "Don't we need to prioritise dealing with the monsters?" Barrett asked stroking his beard. "Given the number that keeps popping up on our radar, we'll need to take them out first before things get out of hand." "I understand that, Barrett." Tifa said. "But right now, we need to prioritise on finding Cloud." "I hope you're not letting your personal feelings get in the way of your rational thinking, Tifa." Vincent said as he stood up. "We're all deeply concerned about Cloud as well. But, don't you think we have to do something about the monsters?" "We'll still need insights on who the mastermind is behind this and I think our best chance is finding Cloud. If we find Cloud, we'll find out who is the perpetrator." Tifa said before looking up. "And when we find out who it is, we can find out a way to stop incidents such as those from the past months from happening."

"Furthermore," Tifa continued. "There hasn't been a single report about any unknown creatures wrecking havoc the past few days. Therefore, it's justifiable to shift our focus to finding Cloud." The others sat in silence contemplating Tifa's words. "Well," Cid said sitting up and clutching his head. "You're the boss, mam. Just say the word and we'll follow." "Tch, bootlicker." Barrett muttered under his breath. "Why thank you, Cid." Tifa replied with a smile, which lifted Cid's spirits. "However," Tifa added while narrowing her eyes. "Sweet talking won't save you from your next punishment. If I were you, I best be prepared." Her threatening tone made Cid turn visibly pale while Barrett was secretly snickering on the sidelines.

A hand was raised, which caught everyone's gaze. "Yes, Noctis?" Tifa asked. "There's one thing I still don't quite get." Noctis started. "You guys mentioned you are a team, right?" This earned nods from everyone save for Lightning and Marlene. "Do you guys have a name?" His questioned nearly made everyone dramatically collapse on the ground. "Really? That's your question?" Tifa asked disbelievingly while her lips slowly broke into a smile. "Yes, is there a problem?" Noctis asked. "Wow, what a way to take away the seriousness of things." Barrett commented. A hearty laugh emerged from Tifa. "Thanks, Noctis, I needed that." Tifa said as once her laughter died down. "Well, to answer your question," Tifa said as Barrett, Yuffie, Cid and Vincent gathered around her. "We're a group dedicated to preserving the peace and safety of Midgar. We are AVALANCHE."

"...woah, you guys just went Super Sentai for a second." Noctis commented. "Super Sentai?" Tifa asked with an eyebrow raised. "Just a show I used to watch back home." Noctis replied with a shrug. "You've watched that?" Lightning asked inquisitively. "It's available in your world too?" Noctis asked. "My sis made me watch them with her. Don't really see the excitement of people dressing up in costumes and adopting weird poses." Lightning answered. "Hey, Super Sentai is my life, Lightning!" Noctis retorted while dramatically holding his heart. "You've just hit it where it hurt the most." "Aw, I'm sorry Noct." Lightning cooed before eyeing him seductively. "Want me to kiss it to make you feel better?" "...tch, damn it." Noctis muttered while turning away with a blush. "What can I say? A little bit of you rubbed off on me." Lightning replied with a smug smile. "Well, I guess I have to be a big influence on your life for that to happen." Noctis said as he turned around to meet her gaze. "Oh, that I cannot deny." Lightning casually replied.

"Ahem." Tifa said as she coughed awkwardly in her fist. "If you are done, perhaps you two could get a room? Or better yet, take your fun upstairs in one of the bedrooms. Be sure to clean up after yourselves when you're done." This caused two massive blushes to form on the couples' faces as they tore apart from each other at the implication of Tifa's words. "What was that about me saying the exact same thing in front of the kid again, mam?" Cid asked, immediately regretting letting that question slip out as she turned to him with her eyes narrowed into slits. "It seems you're asking for more beatings, right?" Tifa threateningly asked while cracking her neck. "You still owe me a nice, long 'chat'."

Screams of pain echoed through the night, yet not a soul reacted to them for fear of incurring the wrath of a demonic female martial artist.

 **よかった** (yokatta) - Thank goodness

 **こうはい** (kouhai) - Junior

 **いもうと** (imouto) - Sibling

 **ばか** (baka) - Stupid/ idiot

 **And that's it for this chapter, folks. Do let us know about what you guys thought of the story so far. And as always, please read and review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, back at it again with yet another chapter after the long wait. Just to update you guys, the upcoming chapters are going to be released much later than on schedule as exia111149 will be away on National Service, something that I'll also be going through in the coming month. And as you all know, this is a collaborated story so I'll not release any new chapters on my own until exia111149 and I can work out a schedule to write these chapters. So, we apologise to all of you guys who have been following the story for a while. So mini announcement aside, let's get this chapter on the road.**

 **Disclaimer: We do not own the Final Fantasy franchise. If we did, well, we'll leave it up to your imagination.**

 **Chapter 7**

"No solid leads, no eyewitnesses, nothing. Three straight days of combing through every crevice of this cesspit and we still haven't found anything!" Tifa yelled out in frustration, making Cid cringe. "There must be something we missed, some stones we've still left unturned." 'I've almost forgotten how much of a madwoman she can be sometimes, especially when it comes to Cloud.' Cid silently thought to himself as he eyed Tifa from the wheel, the latter whom was clutching her forehead while gritting her teeth in anger. An audible sigh escaped his lips. "You could do with some rest, ma'am." Cid commented while steering the wheel. "As a matter of fact, we all do." His words made Tifa's head shoot straight up as she looked at him. "You're not getting any rest until we get at least one lead on Cloud's whereabouts." Tifa snapped back, her lack of rest evident in her bloodshot eyes. "Can I just be brutally honest with you about something?" Cid asked before continuing. "We've been searching for him for three days straight, with no rest, mind you. I swear, we've circled around the slums more times than I can count."

"What exactly are you driving at, Cid?" Tifa asked while narrowing her eyes at Cid. "What I'm saying is," Cid replied as he placed the ship on autopilot before walking over to the main deck where Tifa was, the latter stood hunched over a table looking at the map. He also took note of the many same maps scattered across the opposite side of the table, each one covered entirely in red ink. "It's a colossal waste of effort." He said as he walked up to Tifa and rested his hands on the desk opposite to her. "You've made us go around in circles to look for, might I be so bold as to say, impossible leads. Might I also add that not everyone is in any condition to keep up this fruitless search." Tifa slammed both hands on the desk, making Cid winced at the sound of splinters being made in it. Cid was internally glad yet mystified that the desk hadn't decided to give way, considering Tifa's strength that was known for bending even the toughest of metals.

"This 'fruitless search' as you so casually remarked about," Tifa began as she looked up at Cid dead in the eye, a deadly aura gathering around her being. "Allowed us to cover a lot of ground and even if, IF, we haven't found anything about where Cloud might be, it stands to reason that he's pretty well hidden by whoever attacked us that day. Henceforth, we must double our efforts. We're going through every last sector once more, question every last one whom might have seen Cloud, no matter what it takes. Do I make myself clear, or do you need a better 'explanation' so that you won't question my orders?" Seeing that crazed and violent look Tifa had in her eyes, Cid visibly gulped. "Yes, ma'am. Whatever you say." Cid hesitantly yet fearfully replied. Satisfied with his response, Tifa sat back down to look at the map. 'This confirms it, she has gone completely bonkers.' Cid thought to himself as he inwardly sighed in relief for escaping the embodiment of absolute pain.

Right after their whole exchange, Barrett and Vincent entered the main deck, their expressions grim and blank respectively. "I take it you guys weren't able to find anything as well?" Tifa asked, not even looking at their direction. "We've already searched everywhere and asked everyone, Tifa. There's still nothing that could point us to where Cloud is." Barrett replied, lightly massaging the corner of his eyes with his flesh index finger and thumb. "With all due respect," Vincent added in a monotonous tone. "None of us are in any condition to keep up the search. Might I suggest that we consolidate what we know so far when everyone's well rested?" "Hey, even Vince agreed with me on this!" Cid remarked, which earned a glare from Tifa. "I said it before and I will say it again. Until Cloud's whereabouts are known, we. will. NOT. REST!" Tifa replied, emphasizing the last two words of her sentence with all the authority she could muster if it wasn't for the fact that she was sleep deprived.

"Now you're just being unreasonable, Tifa nee-chan." Yuffie said as she strolled in, rubbing her eyes using her palm. "We're all tired from the days we've spent searching, forgive me for being blunt, in vain for non-existent leads." "They exist, Yuffie." Tifa responded with a harsh tone. "We are just not asking the right people or looking in the right direction." Yuffie huffed. "And who exactly are the right people to ask, hmmm!? Where exactly is the right direction we should be looking at!?" Yuffie yelled, her equally bloodshot eyes popping out of her head through the severe dark eye-circles as her voice gradually got louder. "We've scurried around the slums like ants on a hot hill, yet all we've been doing seems like a fool's errand!" "Don't talk to me like that, young lady!" Tifa snapped back, stalking towards Yuffie until she was right in front of the latter's face. "Do not forget that I'm still the leader of this team, and whatever I say goes."

Yuffie was seething in anger with Tifa's response. "Alright! I am fed up with your behaviour! You're not the nee-chan I know!" Yuffie spat, her eyes glaring into Tifa's own. "The nee-chan I know always does what's best for the others, one who's always thoughtful and mindful of others. But now, I don't even know what I'm looking at. If you're willing to spare no expense at ordering us around without second-guessing how we feel, then you're no better than the A-holes who live on top!" That's when Yuffie dropped the bomb. "That makes you no better than Shinra!" A loud slap echoed through the Highwind. Everyone minus Vincent stared wide-eyed in shock as Yuffie held her stinging cheek, tears streaming down her face from the pain. "How dare you, Yuffie!" Tifa shouted, bringing her right arm down. "How dare me!? How dare you!" Yuffie cried out, still nursing her wounded cheek. She turned heel and ran out of the room, crying on the way out.

Everyone just stood in silence digesting the events that have transpired. "Tch, whatever." Tifa remarked as she walked back to the table, sitting down to look through the map again. Barrett simply shook his head and left for his quarters along with Vincent. "You know, ma'am." Cid began as he lit a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. "Keep going around like that and eventually, everyone's going to leave you." Cid then turned and walked away back to the control panel where he set the Highwind on hover mode before going back to his room. Tifa sat at the desk in silence, her brows knitted in deep thought. 'Have I gone too far?' She silently asked herself before shaking her head. 'This is no time to think about others.' She mentally berated herself. 'I have to find Cloud, even if it kills me.'

"That was some commotion." A figure spoke from the corridor leading to the various bunks. Tifa narrowed her eyes as she turned to glance at a pink-haired woman. "What do you want, Lightning?" Tifa asked, not wanting to deal with any more problems. "You know, where I come from," Lightning began as she walked towards Tifa. "Such actions are known as insubordination and are harshly dealt with. But from what I saw, that was not insubordination but consequences of poor leadership." "Save it, Lightning." Tifa replied before looking back down on the map. "I have enough berating for one night." Lightning looked at Tifa before sighing. "I know you're deeply concerned about Cloud's wellbeing. Heck, we all are." Lightning commented. "But have you ever stopped to think that you're taking things way too far? You've pushed away every single one of your comrades, your friends, all those who came to help because they respected you as their leader and loved you as a friend. So ask yourself, what have you to gain after everything that has happened?" Lightning started to trek back to her room.

"What do you want me to do, then?" Tifa called out, making Lightning stop in her tracks. "That's a question you ought to answer yourself." Lightning replied before walking back down the corridor. Left alone in the room, Tifa leaned back on the chair and loudly sighed. 'I've really taken things too far, haven't I?' She thought to herself as she tilted her head to look up at the brightly lit ceiling. "I was always the pushy one right, Cloud?" She mumbled to herself as she let the memories of her childhood with Cloud fill her thoughts. "And yet," She chuckled as she took on a solemn smile. "You always stood by me, always put up with my shit with that smile of yours." She felt a droplet trickle down her face. Noticing that she was crying, she swiped it away with the back of her hand. "But I guess I can't expect everyone to be like you huh, Cloud?" She sadly muttered to herself, her tears now forming around her eyes. "Gosh, I've been such a jerk to everyone." Tifa sat in silence for a few minutes while letting her tears stream down her face.

"It's been a while since I've gotten some sleep." Tifa said to herself after calming down. Sniffling, she neatly folded the maps and rested them back on the table. 'Maybe I should check up on Yuffie before I hit the hay.' She thought to herself as she stretched, feeling the creaks in her back from the long hours she spent slouching over the tabletop. She made her way to check for any abnormalities on the control panel before leaving the room. She made her way down the hallway, contemplating on how she was going to apologise to Yuffie. Eventually, she found herself right in front of the door to Yuffie's quarters. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Go away." A muffled voice followed by a couple of sniffles was heard from the opposite side of the door.

"Yuffie, it's me. I just want to talk." Tifa called out, knocking on the door once more.

"I said go away, Tifa. I don't want to talk." Yuffie cried out while choking in between sobs.

Tifa sighed before leaning her forehead against the door. "Look, Yuffie." Tifa began. "I'm sorry for what happened earlier, it was stupid and unjust of me to lash out in such a manner towards you. You know how I get in situations like this, but I know this is no excuse for the way I've been acting. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all that you and the others have done for me. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, I'll hear it."

There was silence on both ends for a moment before the sound of shuffling feet towards the door was heard followed by the door slightly opening. From the gap in the door, a pair of puffy red eyes stared into Tifa's. "Two scoops of Honey Bee's special honey glazed ice-cream with three scoops of cookies 'n' cream topped with lightly touched marshmallows and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Your treat, no room for negotiation." Yuffie spoke, her voice still slightly breaking. "You've got yourself a deal, ***** **私にかわいい妹** *****." Tifa said while flashing her a bright smile. A soft giggle was Yuffie's response before closing the door.

"Wait, Yuffie." Tifa said as she placed her hand against the edge of the door to stop it from closing. " ***** **お休み妹ちゃん** ***** "

" ***** **お休みお姉さ** ***** " Yuffie answered. Tifa took her hand off the door to allow Yuffie to gently shut the door. Tifa continued her walk down the hallway to her bedroom, thinking about Cloud along the way. 'Cloud, I hope that you are fine, wherever you are.' She thought to herself.

 _(Back to the desolate remains of Shinra Central Laboratory….)_

"Come on, * **兄貴** *****." The well-muscled replica of Sephiroth, now identified as Loz, mockingly spoke to a badly battered Cloud strapped to a chair. "Sephiroth said that you were just like him." Loz placed his foot on the chair right between Cloud's restrained legs and leaned in with a menacing look on his face. "Did Mother make a mistake?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow before shaking his head. "Nah, can't be it. Mother never makes mistakes." "Perhaps there is something that ***** **兄貴** ***** is lacking." A slimmer version of Sephiroth known as Yazoo spoke from one of the dark corners of the room. He stalked towards Cloud, grabbed a fistful of Cloud's hair and yanked it backwards. "Mother may be inside him, but she's dormant. He has yet to draw out her full potential." Yazoo commented while staring intently into Cloud's eyes. Cloud smirked and spat blood into his face. Yazoo raised his free gloved hand to wipe the blood from his face and glared back at Cloud's smug face.

"Big Brother's got guts, I'll give him that." Yazoo commented after headbutting Cloud. Yazoo forcibly threw Cloud's head back down. "Maybe there is something that Mother sees in you after all." Loz added before backhanding Cloud in the face, bruising his left cheek. "I really hate to hurt you, Big Brother. I really do." Loz said to Cloud. "But you persistently refuse to accept Mother, consistently shun her graces. Such defiant acts towards Mother are….are…." "Go suck your thumb at the corner if you're going to cry, Loz." Yazoo said, rolling his eyes at his brother's emotional antics. "I'm not crying!" Loz exclaimed, though Yazoo wasn't convinced. "Sure, tell that to the few tears streaming down your face. Unless, of course, if your eyeballs are suddenly starting to burst or something." Yazoo replied with a smirk. Loz hastily turned around and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Like I said, I'm not crying." He said while turning around. "And like I said," Yazoo answered, his face stretched into a thin smirk. "Go to a corner to pour your heart out, or better yet find someplace else lest you drown us all in your tears."

"Put a sock in it, you two." The lanky Sephiroth counterpart identified as Kadaj said as he walked in. "Soon, he'll see the error of his ways. It's only a matter of time before he accepts Mother's love like we all did." He then took out a sleek, black box about the size of his palm. Through his muddled vision, Cloud could see it was a music box. "Let's see if what Big Brother Sephiroth say is true." Kadaj commented before cranking up the music box. Once he felt it was enough, Kadaj lifted the lid of the music box and an ominous tune played. "Trying….to….lighten up….the mood huh?" Cloud managed to muster through his broken and bruised lips. He was then hit with a wave of nausea followed by a splitting headache. 'What's this? What's happening?' Cloud thought while trying to fight the pain. Cloud's world became shrouded in darkness as he felt himself being dragged into a pit. It didn't take long before he let the comfort of blackness overwhelm him.

Cloud awoke to find himself back sitting on one of the stools, resting his head against the bar counter in 7th Heaven Bar. Everything looked as it should be, although Cloud could tell that something felt different. 'Feels off, I must have blacked out from the beating.' Cloud thought to himself as he sat up and look around. Suddenly, he began to hear music in the background. 'Hmm, don't recall getting a jukebox for the bar.' He thought to himself. As he listened closely, he realised that it was the same tune that was played from Kadaj's music box. 'Okay, things are starting to get really weird.' "Cloud?" A feminine voice called out from behind him. Cloud turned around to come face to face with his childhood friend Tifa. "I've been looking for you all morning. Get off your lazy butt and help me with this." Tifa said as she picked up a mop to hand to Cloud. Cloud walked over and took the mop from her hands. 'Kill her.' A voice spoke. "Huh?" Cloud looked around. "Is everything all right? You seem a little pale." Tifa asked while looking at him worriedly. 'Kill her.' The voice spoke again. "What is this? Where's that coming from?" Cloud asked himself. The words from the voice echoed in his mind, playing them over and over again. 'Kill her, kill her, kill her.' "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Cloud exclaimed while covering his ears. His whole world was deaf to him, he couldn't hear Tifa's desperate cries calling out to him anymore. All he could hear was that voice and that awful tune. "GAAAHHH!" Cloud cried out as he raised the mop over his head and swung it down in Tifa's direction.

Cloud awoke with a start, his eyes wide open as he gasped for air while frantically looking around. He was somewhat relieved to find that he was still strapped to the chair in the same dark and musty laboratory. 'Was all that just a dream?' He thought to himself. 'No, it felt too real to be one. I can't believe I would actually….' "Oh, you're awake." A voice from the shadows spoke. The voice's owner walked towards Cloud, his footsteps echoing in the enclosed room. Finally, he reached his destination right in front of Cloud. The dim lights suspended above Cloud illuminated his face to unveil Mako-green eyes and a silver mane on an evil face. "What did you do to me, Sephiroth? What did you make me see?" Cloud asked, his teeth seething in anger and his eyes narrowed. "Hmmm, aren't you the curious one?" Sephiroth replied, his arms crossed over his chest while resting his chin on one of his fists mimicking a thinking expression. "Tell me, are you familiar with the term 'classical conditioning'?"

Seeing Cloud's confused look, Sephiroth flashed an evil smile. "It used to be a big thing in SOLDIER. It was what they'd use on the 'weaker' recruits." Sephiroth explained. "Basically, it refers to a conditioned stimulus, let's say a song, which leads to a reflexive response. What this response is, however, varies depending on the person providing the stimulation. It was often used in training, in ensuring that the 'weaker' ones could endure the harsh sufferings of boot camp and hellish obstacle courses." "Get to the point, Sephiroth." Cloud impatiently muttered. "Tut, tut, tut, Cloud. This is all part of the explanation." Sephiroth replied. "As I mentioned, the reflex varies. Hence, once the song is played, the subject would be driven into a state akin to psychosis and would continue to be in it until the song ends." Cloud's eyes slightly widened at Sephiroth's words. "In a nutshell, I could just simply open this music box and all of your friends will lie dead before your very eyes, by your very own hands." Sephiroth finished, his face contorting to sport an evil smirk.

"So, you're using hypnosis now?" Cloud asked. "Got some bad news for you, whatever you're trying, won't work on me." "Ah, but judging from your reaction earlier, I'd say it's starting to have its effects on you." Sephiroth answered. "Not to worry, though. We'll be having a few more sessions like these to whip you into shape." Sephiroth turned on his heels and began to walk out of the room. "Wait," Cloud called out, causing Sephiroth to stop in his tracks. "Who's been healing me all this time? Couldn't have been one of you sick bastards." Sephiroth smirked at Cloud's question. "Well, you'll just have to stick around to find out. Oh wait, it's not like you have anywhere else to go." Sephiroth walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him leaving Cloud all alone in the room's dark confines to his thoughts.

 **私にかわいい妹** **(watashi ni kawaii imouto) –** My cute little sister

 **お休み妹ちゃん** **(Oyasumi imouto-chan)** – Good night little sister

 **お休み妹ちゃん** **(Oyasumi onee-chan)** \- Good night big sister

 **And that is it for the seventh chapter. Once again, we offer our sincere apologies for the late chapter. Be sure to read and review. And do let us know what you think of our Japanese translations so far.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey readers, back from the grave with yet another chapter to this story. Now, we truly apologise for the huge delay. There were a lot of unexpected things that happened in the past few months that took us away from our keyboards. But, enough with the excuses. Let's get right on to this chapter. As always, feel free to drop us your opinions on our story so far.**

 **Disclaimer: We do not own Final Fantasy. If we did, we'll probably be the 34th richest people on this earth.**

 **Chapter 8**

"I apologise for my actions the past few days." Tifa began while looking upon her comrades in the main deck. "I have been acting unjustly and unbefitting of a leader. I have said several things I know I can never take back, but I'm willing to do anything to make it up to you guys." Tifa stopped before inhaling sharply. "To sum up," She continued before bowing. "I'm really sorry." For a moment, a pregnant silence surrounded the main deck. Tifa looked up from her bow to gaze upon the smiling faces of her comrades. "Heh, it's fine ma'am." Cid said with a laugh. " You don't have to do anything for us. If anything, I should also apologise for saying those things last night." "No, Cid. It's fine, you were right. Everything we've been doing was all a waste of time." Tifa replied. "If I may interject Cap'n," Vincent spoke, cutting into the conversation. "Our efforts may not necessarily be in vain." Tifa looked at him with an eyebrow quirked upwards. "What do you mean, Vince?"

"During our search through Sector 6, Barrett and I stumbled across a few civilians who saw three suspicious looking men dressed in black lurking around." Vincent replied monotonously. "One eyewitness account even mentioned that they were seen hoarding some kind of energy cells before taking off from the city." "These energy cells, what did they look like?" Tifa enquired, dumbfounded by this new revelation. "The description wasn't helpful, he just said that it glowed an unearthly green." Barrett answered. Tifa stood in silence contemplating Vincent's words. "What about their conversation, did your source catch anything interesting that they said?" Vincent nodded his head in response to Tifa's question. "He wasn't sure exactly what they were talking about, but they were talking about a plan for their Mother and how their Big Brother was the key." Vincent answered.

Tifa's head instantly snapped to Vincent's direction. "Of course, those freaks who attacked us the other day and captured Cloud kept calling him Big Brother. Those three must be the very same people whom your source saw." Tifa replied. "What could they possibly want with Cloud though?" "Come to think of it Onee-chan," Yuffie interjected. "Those canisters sound vaguely like the ones we seized a few years back. I think they were power cells used by Shinra to supply the whole city with power." "Hang on, as I recall they were infused with the Lifestream." Tifa said in reply while trying to connect the dots. "You don't think that Sephiroth's behind this, do you Ma'am?" Cid asked. "I mean, we did save the whole of Gaia a few years back by thwarting Sephiroth's plan to use the Lifestream to resurrect his so-called 'Mother' and destroy the world. It stands to reason that he might try again."

"I've had my suspicions about this too, Cid." Tifa said, looking in his direction. "All the evidence points to Sephiroth. And if he is planning the exact same thing, we'll all be in great danger." "Still doesn't quite explain why he needs Cloud for his plans though." Cid added. "We'll look into it in due time, but right now we know that Sephiroth has Cloud." Tifa replied. "All that's left now is to figure out where he is." The group sat in silence trying to brainstorm for various places where Cloud could be held. "Vincent, you said that the trio were spotted leaving the city right?" Tifa asked, which earned a nod from the person in question. "If they're stealing power cells, then they must be somewhere that they'll have access to the required technology to activate them.." Barrett's eyes lit up. "Of course, Shinra used to have a laboratory in the outskirts of the city. Perhaps Cloud could have been held there?" Barrett suggested. "Good thinking, Barrett." Tifa said while snapping her fingers. "Finally, we have a lead on Cloud's location."

"We musn't get too excited." Vincent added. "There's a likely chance that they'll have things installed for us when we come looking. We must tread cautiously." "You're right, Vince. We need a proper layout of the laboratory to plan our infiltration and exfil. We'll try to avoid a direction as much as possible." Tifa replied. "I might be able to help with that." Barrett said, his eyes sparkling that could only spell trouble for the party involved. "I'll have to get in touch with one of our customers." Barrett said to Cid before leaving the main deck, his heavy footsteps echoing through the hall. "What's he talking about, Cid?" Tifa asked. "Well, I keep a huge ledger where customers have to fill in with their basic information, like age, contact details, occupation and et cetera." Cid replied. "Why the whole melodrama though?" Yuffie enquired. "I prefer that my customers don't use my weapons to commit crime, hence the need to keep tabs on them, therefore the whole 'melodrama'. And it's also to abide by company policies." Cid answered while lighting a cigar.

"Weren't you the one who made those policies though? You are the owner, after all." Tifa remarked, her nose scrunching up as she cringed from the smell of burning tobacco. "Could you not smoke?" Cid looked at her incredulously. "I smoke all the time, Ma'am. You know that." Cid answered. "Besides, you may be our leader but this is still my ship. In short, my ship, my rules." "Really now?" Tifa asked with her trademark sickly sweet smile. "Do I need to 'exercise' my authority to get you to listen?" Cid gave her an uneasy smile before extinguishing the cigar. "I thought so." Tifa replied before turning to the rest. "Anyways, I think we should all have a day off for today. So, feel free to do whatever you wish." "Ahem, **お姉ちゃん**." Yuffie called out to the older woman. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Tifa smiled and pat Yuffie's head. "I haven't forgotten our promise, Yuf." Tifa said before outstretching her hand. "Come on." Yuffie took Tifa's hand and walked out of the main deck.

"Am I missing something here?" Lightning suddenly asked, shocking the remaining occupants of the room aside from Vincent. "Where did you come from?" Cid asked. "I've been here the whole time." Lightning deadpanned before turning to head for the rooms. "Going to check up on your boyfriend?" Cid asked teasingly. It was a slight moment where Lightning slightly stumbled in her step before continuing on her way, her footsteps noticeably louder. What nobody could see nor hear, however, was her beet red face and soft cursings directed towards the older gent.

( _Back to the silver quadruplets…._ )

"How is Brother faring?" Yazoo inquired while eyeing a struggling and strapped up Cloud through a live feed from a surveillance camera. "Breaking," Kadaj replied, a twisted grin on his face. "Nevertheless, we are making good progress." "Indeed, we are." Sephiroth added as he entered the room, a half-eaten apple in his hand. "For our plan to work, we need Cloud with us, not against us." "It's best for our family to stick together." Loz commented, his muscular arms crossed over his chest. "We've left Brother defiant for far too long."

*snicker*

Loz turned his head to a snickering Yazoo, the latter whom had his right hand over his mouth and trying not to laugh out loud. "That sounded….almost serious if….it wasn't for a few…. ***snort*** ….tears coming out your eyes." Yazoo said in between laughs before breaking into a hysterical laugh. "I'm not crying, Loz." Yazoo remarked, wiping away the tears that were coming out his eyes. "I'm just….glad to see that our family's coming back together." " ***Sigh***. You always were the most emotional of us, Brother." Kadaj said, rolling his eyes in the process. "But I guess you're right. We're strong as individuals, but together we'll be invincible."

"In all seriousness," Loz said after his laughing fits had died down. "Our family is near completion. Oh, I'm getting giddy in anticipation for Mother's return." "Speaking of her, how's her resurrection coming along?" Kadaj asked, his question directed to Sephiroth. "The Lifestream's doing wonders, but it's not enough." Sephiroth said, taking a bite out of the apple. "But in order for her to wake up, we need a catalyst. That's what we need Cloud for, her power awakened within his blood shall be more than enough to fully awaken her."

"I pretty much understand that part, big Brother. What I don't understand is why the need for this whatsit conditioning." Loz questioned while scratching his head. "The term is classical conditioning," Sephiroth replied, turning his head towards Loz. "Trust me, it's essential for our plan to succeed." Sephiroth flashed a cruel smile, crushing the apple in his hand. "I love it when everything's falling into place." He commented, a demented laugh escaping his mouth after making that statement.

( _With Cloud…._ )

What was once a proud fighter had been reduced to a crumbling mess. The former hero of Midgar, the one who saved it from total annihilation, was panting hard, his dishevelled hair covering his dark, sunken-in eyes and trembling where he stood, or in this case strapped to a chair. To a normal perspective, one might think he had gone crazy. Through his eyes, however, he was standing in a sea of blood, the bodies of his former comrades floating on its surface. Classical music was blaring in the background as he gazed upon their broken, mutilated bodies. A small part of him felt guilt towards their deaths, but for the most part he was smiling maniacally, for he was the one who had killed them. The worst part was that he felt good, but he didn't care. If one looked hard enough, his eyes held a faint green glint in them eerily similar to that of Sephiroth's.

Unknown to his knowledge, he was spied on by five pair of eyes; four through the lens of a security camera and the other within the dark confines of the room. The latter's eyes held sympathy in them, faint whispers of repeated apologies in a feminine voice escaping the additional occupant's mouth. You see, Cloud and her were comrades in the past, and it couldn't be helped that he held a special place in her heart, though not the romantic kind. Ultimately, her love for Sephiroth drove her towards the side of evil. In spite of how bad she knew the consequences were for her actions, she couldn't fall back now, not after everything that has happened, back from when Sephiroth woke her from her 'death-like' state. Indebted to him and with her love for the former SOLDIER still lingering, she had knowingly turned a blind eye to the monster he had become. All she could do was observe the events that have transpired and what others have yet to come. Although she knew it was a slim chance, she muttered a silent prayer for whatever godly force to save Sephiroth's soul from eternal damnation.

( _With AVALANCHE…._ )

"Aahhh, zzz!" Sucking his teeth, Noctis exclaimed in pain as a piece of wet cloth was pressed over his chest wound. "Put a sock in it, you big baby. It's not so bad now." Lightning commented as she pressed the cloth around the edges of the newly-forming scar. "Besides, you won't want this wound getting infected now that it's healing up nicely do you?" The dark-haired man in question meekly nodded, slightly puffing out his chest so that the pink haired woman could get a better angle at cleaning it. The young woman couldn't help but slightly blush at his well-toned body. She's already seen it before but it never fails to get her heart racing. Every muscle was greatly accented due to him puffing out his chest, allowing her the perfect view of his well muscled torso. "Ahem," Noctis cleared his throat to get her attention. "If you're done ogling, I think that the wound has been cleaned enough."

Lightning shook her head, trying to clear her mind of leaving an imprint of Noctis' half-naked body. "Sorry, it's just hard not to stare at such a hot bod." The moment those words escaped Lightning's mouth sent her plunging into a world of utter embarrassment. She turned her head away, her face flushed crimson red as she tried to avert any eye contact with the dark-haired man. Noctis just stared at her blankly. Neither said a word to each other, silence impregnating the air. After what seemed like an eternity, Noctis found his voice. "Uh thanks, appreciate the compliment." He replied with an awkward laugh. "You look pretty amazing too." Hearing his words, Lightning's face took on several shades of ripe tomato red; if an average has approximately 186oz of blood, this girl has a way higher blood count. 'This isn't human at all.' Noctis thought as he gazed upon her reddened face.

"Um, thanks I guess." Lightning replied. "You look fantastic, by the way." "Didn't you just complimented me a few seconds ago?" Noctis deadpanned, raising an eyebrow in the process. Lightning blinked at his statement before flushing an even deeper shade of red. "Oh, that's right! How could I have forgotten? Hah, silly me~" Lightning uncharacteristically replied, clenching her fist and lightly knocking herself on the head. 'If there was a **燃え** contest, she would win it hands down.' Noctis thought with a blush at her cute antics. It was an undeniable fact that over the past few days of being in contact with the pink-haired woman, the fallen prince was developing feelings for his female caregiver. But alas as dense as our dark-haired protagonist could be, he merely shrugs it off as a feeling of gratitude towards the girl. It also wasn't too long ago that she had confessed to him as well, taking their relationship to another new level, or so Lightning thought given how dense her crush was. Hell, she wasn't even sure where to even begin building this relationship, or if he'll even build it with her.

Speaking of building said relationship….

"You know, my wound still needs to be bandaged up." Noctis said teasingly, lifting up his arms. "Do it yourself, your Highness." Lightning replied with a slight pout, arms crossed over her chest. "Aww, come on. My chest still feels kind of stiff. Won't you please help me with it?" Noctis asked, his tone taking that of an innocent child while batting his eyes at her in mock begging. "Tch, jackass." She merely answered before taking out the new bandages from the medkit. "Aww, don't pretend you don't love me for it." Noctis added, further escalating his teasing. "As a matter of fact, I do. More than you know it." Lightning replied as she began wrapping the bandages around his chest. "...huh." was Noctis' only response before the room stumbled into utter quietness once more.

"There, that should do it." Lightning proclaimed as she secured the wrapping with medical tape. "Then again, a band-aid should suffice considering how much smaller the wound is now as compared to before." "Thanks Lightning, really appreciate all the help you've been giving me." Noctis said while slowly lying back down on the bed. "Well, considering the time, effort and amount of mana used to heal you, I think I deserve a reward." Lightning teasingly replied. 'Not bad. She's learning quick.' Noctis thought with an impressed look. "Well," Noctis began, a wry smile forming on his face. "I could think of several ways I could reward you." Once again, Lightning's face flared up. Noctis even thought how it was even humanly possible for a person to get this flustered so many times. Then again, our heroes aren't your average persons.

" ***** **ば。。。ば。。ばか** **えっちばか** **!** **へんたい** **が** **!*** " Lightning exclaimed, using japanese nouns she never thought she knew. "Hey, I was thinking something along the lines of dinner, a drink or something." Noctis abruptly raised his arms in defence, only to wince in slight pain as he set them back down equally fast. "What were you thinking of?" Lightning shook her head, fighting off her growing blush. "It's nothing you need to know about, dipshit! So, shush up!" She literally screamed in his face at this point. "Okay, okay. Point taken." Noctis said as he sighed in defeat. 'Women really are my kryptonite, though I don't know exactly why. Then again, I don't feel weakened at the sight of a mere green rock.' Noctis thought to himself.

( _In another universe…._ )

A certain Kryptonian clad in a blue and red unitard, draped in a red cape with a golden 'S' symbol on his chest sneezed. 'Huh, someone's bad mouthing me.' He remarked while rubbing his nose.

( _Back to this story's universe…._ )

"So anyways," Noctis began. "This relationship we've got going on here feels kind of stagnant." "Huh, what do you mean?" Lightning questioned, praying at the bottom of her heart it wasn't a breakup, that is if their relationship was really known especially to the male party. "I mean, you know a lot about me," He continued. "But I don't know a thing about you, Claire. You're still an enigma to me." "Oh, that's what you meant." Lightning responded, silently thanking all the kamis in the world. You see, the past few days allowed our dark-haired hero and pink-haired heroine to connect with each other (Not the way some of you perverts think). Noctis had told her stories of his adventures with his childhood friends, how they met Ardyn who turned out to be a distant psychotic relative who wanted the throne to himself and how he ended up in this world. However, Noctis hadn't the slightest clue of whom Lightning really was. "So, what exactly do you want to know about me?" Lightning asked. "Several things, actually." Noctis replied. "Like, where do you come from? What did you do back in your own world? How did you even arrive in this world?" Lightning blushed at his inquisitiveness. 'He's like a child sometimes for a thirty-something old man.' Lightning thought to herself. "Alright, here goes." She answered.

 **And there you have it, the conclusion of yet another chapter. We know this update has taken really long and we sincerely apologise for it. Anyways, you readers can anticipate future chapters coming out slightly faster than the last few. In any case, thank you all so much for your patience and feel free to let us know how we can make our story better.**

 **Japanese Translations:**

 **お姉ちゃん** – Onee-chan (Big Sister with '-chan' as an honorific)

 **燃え** – moe (sort of a slang term for cute)

 **ば。。。ば。。ばか** **えっちばか** **!** **へんたい** **が** \- Ba….Ba….Baka! Ecchi Baka! Hentai ga! (basically just Lightning's repetitive remarks of perverted idiot)


End file.
